The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff is both a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe, and a 1983 film adapted from the book. It is a historical drama that tells the story of the first seven astronauts selected for the NASA space program. The story tells not only of the "Mercury Seven" and their families, but also the contrasting fate of Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many test pilots to be the best of them, but who was never selected as an astronaut.

Related Topics:
1979 - Tom Wolfe - 1983 - Astronaut - NASA - Mercury Seven - Chuck Yeager - Test pilot

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According to the book's introduction, the book was inspired by the desire to find out why the astronauts willingly put themselves at risk to fly into space. Wolfe's book recounts the enormous risks that test pilots were already taking, and the self-belief that the selectivity of reaching the ranks of a test pilot (and thus possessing "the right stuff") gave. Wolfe likens the astronauts to 'single combat champions' from an earlier era, receiving the honour and adoration of their people before going forth to fight on their behalf.

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The story is more about the space race than about space exploration in general, but mentions the USSR effort only occasionally and focuses on the US. Being a drama, it is more about the astronauts and their wives than about technical aspects and the flights themselves. But it also focuses on the political reasons for putting people into space. It is made obvious that the astronauts are really a burden and are only sent up for promotional reasons. The reason to include living beings in the spacecrafts are barely mentioned, but the first option that was considered was to use a chimpanzee (and indeed a chimpanzee was sent up first). The next options considered were people who could take the physical stress, like circus artists. But the president insisted on pilots, even though whoever was on board didn't need to do anything, just sit there. When Gus Grissom landed at sea and left the capsule, the rescue squad tried to save the capsule before him because the data were more important. Another political issue was Grissom's name. Gus was not considered a good name for an astronaut, but his second name was Ivan and that was even less appropriate (being too Russian-sounding).

Related Topics:
Space race - Space exploration - Gus Grissom

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An interesting aspect is that on both sides (US and USSR) more experienced Germans are used for the program. When someone mentions that Germans were responsible for putting the first crafts in space, someone else comments " our Germans are better than their Germans".

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