STP7 - The Right Stuff and The Start of NASA
Following the release of 'The Right Stuff' on Disney+ this week, Dave and Emily discuss the history of Tom Wolfe's book, the original 1983 film and the first two episodes.
With that in mind, they then get talking about the origins of NASA, the Space Task Group and the Mercury 7.
Blue Origin 'New Shepard Launch" - 13th October:
Artemis Accords: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-international-partners-advance-cooperation-with-first-signings-of-artemis-accords
NASA History files:
"The Birth of NASA" - https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_29.html
"The Space Task Group: - https://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/Space_Task_Group
"Project Mercury Overview - Astronaut Selection" - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/missions/astronaut.html
Michael Collins Washington Post Article about The Right Stuff from 1979: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1979/09/09/so-you-want-to-be-an-astronaut/42df935f-a624-44c9-b354-bb87ab1727e6/
Suggested Reading:
The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
We Seven - By The Astronauts Themselves
This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury - by Charles Alexander, James M. Grimwood, and Loyd S. Jr Swenson.
Mercury 7 first press conference:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
The Right Stuff Movie Trailer:
The Right Stuff TV show Trailer:
Space and Things:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/spaceandthings1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spaceandthingspodcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spaceandthingspodcast/
Merch and Info: https://www.spaceandthingspodcast.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings
Business Enquiries: info@andthingsproductions.com
Emily Carney
A veteran of the United States Navy, Carney became a freelance writer back in 2008 and started a blog called This Space Available, which is hosted by the National Space Society.
In 2011, Carney founded a facebook group Space Hipsters. Originally intended to be a place to share news and insights amongst friends, this community has now grown to close to 20,000 members including astronauts, engineers, scientists, historians and space flight enthusiasts from around the globe.
Blog: https://space.nss.org/category/this-space-available/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/EmilyLCarney
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyCarneySpace/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilycarneyspace/
Dave Giles
Giles is a singer/songwriter from London, England who has always had a passion for space flight. Since his early years he’s been looking skyward and though he ended up wielding a guitar for a living, space exploration is alway on his mind and one of his most popular songs is about astronaut Gene Cernan, ‘The Last Man On The Moon’.
In 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Giles visited all of the crewed space vehicles flown by NASA from Freedom 7 to the Space Shuttle Orbiters.
Full info: https://www.davejgiles.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/davejgiles
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davejgilesmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davejgiles
Space and Things is brought to you And Things Productions https://www.andthingsproductions.com
