Themes

The Right Stuff deals with the American astronauts and test pilots who, from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s, conquered the sound barrier and space.

The book's attention is divided between the test pilots like Chuck Yeager, who repeatedly set new air speed and altitude records flying experimental aircraft, and the Mercury 7 astronauts who went into space first in suborbital and later orbital missions.

Throughout the work, Wolfe places these events in a well-defined social and political context. The drama of the Cold War, from the late 1940s through the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War, is a clearly drawn back ground. But the focus always falls upon individuals for whom the race against the Russians is a matter of life and death, pride or humiliation, "the right stuff" or failure.

The Right Stuff

Of all the terms Wolfe coined to convey the experiences and codes...