Tom Wolfes book “The Right Stuff is about the earlier years of the United States space program during the Cold war. He speaks of brave and dedicated men throwing their lives to progressing aerial technology and were still be able to do it over and over again without surrender. To Wolfe to have “The Right Stuff” was to be relentless, unwavering, and somewhat fearless no matter how dire the situation was.
In the book Wolfe first discovers the “right stuff” among the close group of military fighter and test pilots stationed at bleak air bases scattered around the United States in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He describes “the right stuff” as the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and have the skill, the reflexes, the cool head, and the experience to pull it back in the last …show more content…
Panic soon followed the Soviets’ first venture into space. It appeared to the people of the United States and their government that the control of the heavens was at stake. To launch an American into space was to close the gap with the Soviets. After lengthy consideration about how to select the first American in space (at one point the field was to be open to any young male college graduate with experience in dangerous pursuits—mountain climbers, deep sea divers, skydivers, and the like), President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered that the first astronauts be chosen from the ranks of military test pilots.
The position of astronaut was unprecedented, and the fliers had to reach a consensus on where an astronaut would fit in their hierarchy. Many people argued that astronauts would be no better than simple lab animals, with little or no opportunity to exhibit the right stuff. These pilots were not overwhelmingly eager at first to volunteer for this new program, they definitely weren’t sure as to whether it would represent a great boost in status, or a leap into
In the book Wolfe first discovers the “right stuff” among the close group of military fighter and test pilots stationed at bleak air bases scattered around the United States in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He describes “the right stuff” as the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and have the skill, the reflexes, the cool head, and the experience to pull it back in the last …show more content…
Panic soon followed the Soviets’ first venture into space. It appeared to the people of the United States and their government that the control of the heavens was at stake. To launch an American into space was to close the gap with the Soviets. After lengthy consideration about how to select the first American in space (at one point the field was to be open to any young male college graduate with experience in dangerous pursuits—mountain climbers, deep sea divers, skydivers, and the like), President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered that the first astronauts be chosen from the ranks of military test pilots.
The position of astronaut was unprecedented, and the fliers had to reach a consensus on where an astronaut would fit in their hierarchy. Many people argued that astronauts would be no better than simple lab animals, with little or no opportunity to exhibit the right stuff. These pilots were not overwhelmingly eager at first to volunteer for this new program, they definitely weren’t sure as to whether it would represent a great boost in status, or a leap into