The Right Stuff - Disney Plus

[novocastrian]

weirdly finished the last two a the weekend

enjoyed it although it is a bit slow perhaps & not enough space/stuff a lot it hanging about a motel !

these guys lived on the egde mind... no wonder they had issues with drinking , womanising etc... guess this is part & parcel of a job where you dont know if the next flight will be the last... didnt realise shepherds first flight was only 15 mins ..

as i understand a further season on the gemini & apollo missions is planned ?

[LRMD]

Im enjoying this too, love all space things, yeah I agree they don’t represent the astronauts as great people, lots of women and booze and fun at the motel, I like how parts of it remind me of Florida! What an amazing opportunity though! It’s been a good thing to watch over this lockdown time!

[mollybogle]

Apparently there is a program on Apple TV called for all mankind that is based on what if the Russians won the space race. My dad said it’s quite good

[Wazza]

Originally Posted by mollybogle

Yes we have been watching just got the last episode to watch, they really didn’t paint the astronauts in a good light, particularly Alan Shepherd. The only decent one was John Glenn

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As far as I know, they were all test pilots. Putting their lives on the line every time they took to the air, it’s not a surprise they had a few flaws

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Wazza

As far as I know, they were all test pilots. Putting their lives on the line every time they took to the air, it’s not a surprise they had a few flaws

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I think that you are right re the test pilots. It is worth remembering that throughout the late 40s, 50s and 60s, there were massive technological advances, but no decent computers to create things. An idea was muted, bolted to an airframe (or a whole airframe built) and then tested... for real. The risks to such men were enormous and in many ways, they were treated as movie stars by adolescents who followed their every adventure avidly. I guess that an arrogant belief in ones own ability and an ego to match were pretty much prerequisites.

I could not name a single modern day test pilot, but without recourse to any book or computer I could name more British test pilots of that golden era than film stars.
De Havilland .. G De Havilland then John Derry.. both killed.
Supermarine .. Mike Lithgoe
Hawker .. Neville Duke
Fairey.. Peter Twiss
English Electric .. Bee Beaumont
Avro .. Roly Falk
Vickers.. Brian Trubshaw.

I have no doubt that the Americans treated their test pilots and then Astronauts in exactly the same way.

Or perhaps I am simply an aviation anorak from birth!

[Harry]

Was better than I thought it was going to be and a bit OTT in places... but all in all pretty decent... not a scratch on the book or the film which are absolute classics...one thing though it has rewetted the appetite to get back to KSC