The Right Stuff

How the future began.

A chronicle of the original Mercury astronauts in the formation of America's space program: Alan Shepherd, the first American in space; Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; John Glenn, the straight-arrow 'boy scout' of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth; and the remaining pilots: Deke Slayton, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper.

Dennis Quaid

Gordon Cooper

Ed Harris

John Glenn

Scott Glenn

Alan Shepard

Fred Ward

Gus Grissom

Sam Shepard

Chuck Yeager

Barbara Hershey

Glennis Yeager

Lance Henriksen

Wally Schirra

Veronica Cartwright

Betty Grissom

Harry Shearer

NASA Recruiter

Jeff Goldblum

NASA Recruiter

Kim Stanley

Pancho Barnes

Pamela Reed

Trudy Cooper

Scott Paulin

Deke Slayton

Charles Frank

Scott Carpenter

Donald Moffat

Lyndon B. Johnson

Levon Helm

Jack Ridley / Narrator

Mary Jo Deschanel

Annie Glenn

Scott Wilson

Scott Crossfield