Parents' Guide to The Real Right Stuff

THE REAL RIGHT STUFF focuses on the seven men -- Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton -- who were chosen to participate in the United States' first foray into space. Much of the program was driven by the desire to catch up and even surpass the Soviet Union in space exploration and proficiency. The competitiveness between the two countries during the Cold War underlies much of the film. Director Tom Jennings intercuts interviews with families, news footage, and a never-seen interview by Tom Wolfe (author of the book The Right Stuff) to complete the story of what it was like to be part of NASA's Mercury Program. Though the film doesn't go into detail about each astronaut's backstory, it does provide insight into how becoming an astronaut forever changed their lives -- and the impact it had on their families. While the Soviet Union conducted their space research in private, NASA and the United States made the Mercury program very public. That meant that the original seven astronauts were suddenly thrust into the limelight: They went from being ordinary citizens to heroes and celebrities who were instantly recognized wherever they went. Their contributions, as well as continued experiments and learnings from NASA, paved the way for future astronauts and space research and technology, allowing the United States to be the first country to reach the moon.