Film lesson : the right stuff

The US and the USSR were competing both sides of the space race (US and USSR) used experienced Germany engineers and rocket scientists. In a particularly humorous moment in the film , Senator Lyndon Johnson attends a meeting where the politicians are reacting to the news of Sputnik launch.Later, Johnson, as vice president, advances President Kennedy's initiative to stay on top in the space race, and a celebration he hosts at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the new headquarters of NASA (that Johnson personally lobbied for his home state), highlights the surreal aspects of the competition.


As the film continues into the final launches and orbit missions of Glenn and Cooper, the overall atmosphere of competition against a backdrop of Cold War tension seeps into the family lives of the astronauts.Glenn's mission to become the first American to completely orbit the Earth nearly turns tragic, as concerns mount that the heat shield on his capsule may have loosened, which would expose him to the searing heat of re-entry. Glenn lands safely and is accorded perhaps the largest hero's welcome since that of Charles Lindbergh.