Disney+ has released a sneak peek from The Right Stuff, its first scripted series from National Geographic.
Based on the iconic bestseller by Tom Wolfe, the series is billed as “an inspirational look at the early days of the U.S. Space Program and the incredible story of America’s first astronauts, the Mercury Seven.”
At the height of the Cold War in 1959, the Soviet Union dominates the space race, and America fears it is a nation in decline. Newly-formed NASA has the monumental task of sending a man into space, and its engineers estimate they need decades to accomplish the feat.
They are given two years. Dubbed Project Mercury, the program recruits and trains just seven astronauts from a handful of the military’s best pilots.
Within days of being presented to the world, the Mercury Seven become instant celebrities, forged into heroes before they achieve a single heroic act.
At a time when many wondered if America’s glory days were behind it, The Right Stuff is an aspirational story about how ordinary human beings can achieve the extraordinary.
The series evokes the wonder of this singular era, when the free world looked towards a new horizon of hope as we first stepped off the bounds of our planet to venture into the vast unknown.
