Not as outrageous in context. Moments earlier, the protagonist had had to explain the basics of discriminatory bathroom policy at NASA to Kevin Costner, Chief Spaceman of American NASA Space Team. She wasn't in a position to smash up a racist bathroom, but she could make him understand well enough that he would have no other moral choice but to smash up a racist bathroom, or admit his complicity in the dehumanization of his own star employee. So, the bathroom-smashing victory was mostly hers, and Kevin Costner was more a tool of change than an oroginstor, actor, or saviour.
This is one of those movies that's actually really good but which will be primarily remembered for one bad scene.
But it's their own fault for inventing Costner's character (a composite of multiple real-life superiors who Katherine Johnson reported to) and making up a scene where he gets to be a blandly heroic Enlightened White Man for the audience to project themselves onto.