Those astronauts interacted directly with the real-life people featured in “The Right Stuff,” allowing them to think critically about the story’s accuracy. “I haven’t read the book critically. I’m not sure I’ve read it all,” Gemini astronaut and Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong, who died in 2012, told NASA in 2001.
Q. Was John Glenn as portrayed in The Right Stuff?
Adams as Major John Glenn and Jake McDorman as Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard, The Right Stuff stars Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Gordo Cooper, the youngest of the seven astronauts; Eloise Mumford as Trudy Cooper, an accomplished pilot in her own right; James Lafferty as Scott Carpenter, dubbed “The Poet” by his …
Table of Contents
- Q. Was John Glenn as portrayed in The Right Stuff?
- Q. Did John Glenn really send letters about Alan Shepard?
- Q. Did Ed Harris play John Glenn?
- Q. Why was Yeager not an astronaut?
- Q. Why called the right stuff?
- Q. Did Gordon Cooper get divorced?
- Q. Did Gordon and Trudy Cooper stay together?
- Q. Why was Gordon Cooper separated from his wife?
- Q. Did any Mercury astronauts die?
- Q. Did John Glenn really see fireflies?
Q. Did John Glenn really send letters about Alan Shepard?
Glenn did write a letter protesting the flight order, but it was only to Gilruth. “I gave the letter to Bob when I returned to Langley, but I heard no more about it. We were all following Al [Shepard] now, the decision was made…”
Q. Did Ed Harris play John Glenn?
Casting. Actor Ed Harris auditioned twice in 1981 for the role of John Glenn. Originally, Kaufman wanted to use a troupe of contortionists to portray the press corps, but settled on the improvisational comedy troupe Fratelli Bologna, known for its sponsorship of “St. Stupid’s Day” in San Francisco.
Q. Why was Yeager not an astronaut?
Yeager was foremost a fighter pilot and held several squadron and wing commands. (Yeager himself had only a high school education, so he was not eligible to become an astronaut like those he trained.)
Q. Why called the right stuff?
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.
Q. Did Gordon Cooper get divorced?
According to a NASA biography of Mr. Cooper prepared for the 40th anniversary of his Gemini flight, last year, that marriage ended in divorce, and he married Suzan Taylor in 1972.
Q. Did Gordon and Trudy Cooper stay together?
Dismayed by his stalled astronaut career, Cooper retired from NASA and the USAF on July 31, 1970, with the rank of colonel, having flown 222 hours in space. Soon after he divorced Trudy, he married Suzan Taylor, a schoolteacher, in 1972.
Q. Why was Gordon Cooper separated from his wife?
Trudy Cooper left her husband Gordon for him being unfaithful months before Project Mercury had even been launched. She took him back only when he begged her to think of their two children – and the fame coming their way.
Q. Did any Mercury astronauts die?
Grissom flew Mercury and Gemini missions, but died in 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire; the others all survived past retirement from service. Schirra flew Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission, in Grissom’s place. He was the last living member of the Mercury Seven when he died in 2016 at the age of 95.
Q. Did John Glenn really see fireflies?
6. Glenn—and NASA—were mystified by an unusual sighting during the mission. Glenn referred to the specks as “fireflies,” and tried banging on his capsule walls to see if he could make them move, which he could.
