LitPick Review
Seven test pilots are chose to participate in the Mercury project that will combat the Russians in the race to space. They leave behind the Yeager era of pushing the envelop in the newest fighter planes and risk there lives in rockets that they have little control over. The seven must learn to cooperate with each other while competing with the same men for the first flight. They begin as heroes and return as even greater heroes, doing work that some thought would save western life as we now know it.
Opinion:
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe was a very factual and frank account of the Mercury project, its selection process, and the times leading up to it. However, the real highlight was how well the astronauts were described. Tom Wolfe gives many dimensions to the astronauts and shows what their wives were subjected to during their rise to top. The Right Stuff is a must read novel for any interested in space and modern history.
