The Right Stuff (book)
LC Class | TL789.8.U5 W64 1979 |
The Right Stuff is a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe about the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first astronauts selected for the NASA's Project Mercury program. The Right Stuff is based on extensive research by Wolfe, who interviewed test pilots, the astronauts[Note 1] and their wives, among others. The story contrasts the Mercury Seven[1] and their families with other test pilots such as Chuck Yeager, who was never selected as an astronaut.
Wolfe wrote that the book was inspired by the desire to find out why the astronauts accepted the danger of space flight. He recounts the enormous risks that test pilots were already taking, and the mental and physical characteristics—the titular "right stuff"—required for and reinforced by their jobs. Wolfe likens the astronauts to "
The book was adapted as a film of the same name in 1983. It was later adapted as a television series, also of the same name, by National Geographic as a Disney+ Original, premiering in October 2020.[2][3]
Writing and publication
In 1972 Jann Wenner, the editor of Rolling Stone, assigned Wolfe to cover the launch of NASA's last Moon mission, Apollo 17. Wolfe became fascinated with the astronauts, and his competitive spirit compelled him to try to outdo Norman Mailer's nonfiction book about the first Moon mission, Of a Fire on the Moon. He published a four-part series for Rolling Stone in 1973 titled "Post-Orbital Remorse", about the depression that some astronauts experienced after having been in space. After the series, Wolfe began researching the whole of the space program, in what became a seven-year project from which he took time to write The Painted Word, a book on art, and to complete Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine, a collection of shorter pieces.[5]
In 1977 he returned to his astronaut book full-time. Wolfe originally planned to write a complete history of the space program, though after writing through the
Wolfe also consulted with Dr. David Hamburg, then head of the department of psychiatry at Stanford, to learn about the psychological aspects of space flight, and relate the experience from the pilot/astronauts' point of view.
The Right Stuff was published in 1979 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and became Wolfe's best selling book yet.[citation needed] It was praised by most critics, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.[7][8]
In the foreword to a new edition, published in 1983 when the film adaptation was released, Wolfe wrote that his "book grew out of some ordinary curiosity" about what "makes a man willing to sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle… and wait for someone to light the fuse".[9]
Book
The story is more about the
The storyline also involves the political reasons for putting people into space, asserting that the Mercury astronauts were actually a burden to the program and were only sent up for promotional reasons. Reasons for including living beings in spacecraft are barely touched upon, but the first option considered was to use a
Another option considered was using athletes already accustomed to physical stress, such as circus trapeze artists. Wolfe states that President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted on pilots, even though the first crew members would not actually fly the spacecraft. When Gus Grissom lands at sea and exits his space capsule, saving the capsule seems more important to the recovery team than saving the pilot because of the value of the data.
Wolfe contrasts the Seven with the Edwards AFB test pilots, among whom was
Another test pilot highlighted in the book is Scott Crossfield. Crossfield and Yeager were fierce but friendly rivals for speed and altitude records.
In other media
Film
A 3-hour, 13-minute film released in 1983 stars Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kim Stanley, Levon Helm, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed, Lance Henriksen, and the real Chuck Yeager in a cameo appearance. NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz also has a small role, playing "Gonzalez". It features a score by composer Bill Conti.
The screenplay was adapted by director Philip Kaufman from the book. Screenwriter William Goldman, who had been attached to the film prior to the hiring of Kaufman, left the project after quarreling with Kaufman about story elements, including Goldman's excision of the Yeager narrative and the unabashedly jingoistic tone of his adaptation (spurred by the Iran hostage crisis).
While the movie took liberties with certain historical facts as part of "dramatic license", criticism focused on one: the portrayal of
This determination had, in fact, been made long before the movie was filmed, and even Tom Wolfe's book only states that this possibility was considered, not that it was actually judged as being the cause of the accident. In fact, Grissom was assigned to command the first flights of both Gemini and Apollo. Grissom died in the Apollo 1 fire because there was no quick-opening hatch on the Block 1 Apollo Command Module — a design choice made because NASA had determined that the explosion in the hatch on Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 had been most likely self-initiated.[citation needed]
Another fact that had been altered in the film was the statement by Trudy Cooper, who commented that she "wondered how they would've felt if every time their husband went in to make a deal, there was a one-in-four chance he wouldn't come out of that meeting". According to the book, this actually reflected the 23% chance of dying during a 20-year career as a normal pilot. For a test pilot, these odds were higher, at 53%, but were still considerably less than the movie implied. In addition, the movie merely used the fictional Mrs. Cooper as a vehicle for the statement; the real Mrs. Cooper is not known to have said this.[11]
Wolfe made no secret that he disliked the film, especially because of changes from his original book. Goldman also disliked the choices made by Kaufman, saying in his 1983 book Adventures in the Screen Trade that "Phil [Kaufman]'s heart was with Yeager. And not only that, he felt the astronauts, rather than being heroic, were really minor leaguers, mechanical men of no particular quality, not great pilots at all, simply the product of hype."[12]
Critics were generally favorable toward the film.
Television
A television series, based on The Right Stuff and created by
See also
- Of a Fire on the Moon (1970) by Norman Mailer, an account of the Apollo 11 Moon landing that inspired Wolfe to write The Right Stuff
- Lost Moon (1994) by Jim Lovell, about the Apollo 13 mission
Notes
- ^ As a matter of fact, Alan Shepard said that Tom Wolfe had not talked to any of the original seven astronauts, at any time (Alan Shepard's Interview to Charlie Rose, July 20, 1994).
References
Citations
- ^ Wolfe 2001, p. 143. Note: Wolfe uses this term exactly once.
- ^ "Get An Exclusive First Look at National Geographic’s The Right Stuff at D23 Expo" by D23 Staff, August 12, 2019
- ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (2020-05-05). "'The Right Stuff': Nat Geo's Mercury 7 Drama Series Moves To Disney+ For Fall Premiere". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
- ^ "The Right Stuff." ABE books. Retrieved: 3 November 2009.
- ^ Ragen 2001, pp. 22–26.
- ^ Wolfe 1979, p. 368.
- ^ Ragen 2001, p. 26–28.
- ^
"National Book Awards – 1980". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
This was the award for General Nonfiction (hardcover) during a period inNational Book Awards historywhen there were many nonfiction subcategories. - ^ Wolfe 2001, Foreword.
- ^ Into That Silent Sea
- ^ Wolfe 1979, p. 22.
- ^ Goldman 1983
- ^ "National Geographic Taps Patrick J. Adams as Maj. John Glenn in Global Scripted Series "The Right Stuff," Based on Tom Wolfe's Best-Seller". The Futon Critic. May 31, 2019.
Bibliography
- Bryan, C.D.B. "The Right Stuff (review)." New York Times, 23 September 1979.
- Charity, Tom. The Right Stuff (BFI Modern Classics). London: British Film Institute, 1991. ISBN 0-85170-624-X.
- Goldman, William (1989). Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (reissue ed.). Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-39117-4.
- Ragen, Brian Abel, ed. Tom Wolfe: A Critical Companion. West Port, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31383-0.
- Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979, ISBN 0-374-25032-4.
- Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam, 1979, ISBN 0-553-24063-3.
- Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam, 2001, 1979, ISBN 0-553-38135-0.