The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than ... Read allThe U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
- Won 4 Oscars
- 12 wins & 16 nominations total
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- TriviaAccording to NASA, the mysterious "fireflies" observed by John Glenn on his first orbital flight were actually condensed ice crystals from the small hydrogen peroxide rockets used for altitude control illuminated by sunlight. Upon uses many of them formed a particulate cloud around the spacecraft and many attached themselves to the skin of the vehicle as well.. A This was confirmed by astronaut Scott Carpenter on the next Mercury flight when he banged on the craft's side, causing more of the flakes to break free and become visible.
- GoofsDuring the second funeral sequence, Gordo Cooper is wearing decorations on his service dress uniform denoting service in the Korean War. In reality, Cooper was the only member of the "Original Seven" who was not a combat veteran.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator: There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.
- Alternate versionsABC edited 5 minutes from this film for its 1986 network television premiere.
- ConnectionsEdited into Waiting for Superman (2010)
- SoundtracksSouthwestern Waltz
Written by Vaughn Horton (uncredited)
Performed by Bob Wills
Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.
Those astronauts - the Mercury 7 pilots - are a varied group of aviators and they are all pretty interesting guys. John Glenn (Ed Harris) gets favorable treatment in here among the group. Gordon Cooper might be the wildest with the cocky and humorous Dennis Quaid playing him. Overall, it's a good cast including not just the fliers but their wives. I also enjoyed Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard and Barbara Hershey as Yeager's wife.
Yeager's feats were perhaps the most interesting and they set a fast tone to this 3-hour film as we witness him breaking several sound-barrier records prior to the formation of the astronaut team. Then we are treated to a long-but-interesting segment of how those first astronauts were trained.
The only unnecessary and ludicrous parts of this film were the ones on Lyndon Johnson, where they made him into a total fool. It was as if the screen writers had a personal vendetta against him, to make him look almost like a cartoon figure. And the bit with the Australian Aborigines smacks too much of Hollywood's love affair with tribal religions. I sincerely doubt some sparks from a fire on earth could be seen miles and miles above in space.
At any rate, this was an informative look at a period in our history than came-and-went way too fast. Sad to say, most people know very little about those first astronauts, who were true heroes. At least this film gives them their due, as well as to Yeager, who deserved this tribute, too
- ccthemovieman-1
- May 26, 2006
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $27,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $21,192,102
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,601,167
- Oct 23, 1983
- Gross worldwide
- $21,192,315
- Runtime3 hours 13 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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![Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Charles Frank, Scott Paulin, and Fred Ward in The Right Stuff (1983)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMDA3MTYtZjhjMi00ODFmLTg5ZTAtYzgwN2NlODgzMmUwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjc1NTYyMjg@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)