The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe

NOTE: This follows the space theme my groups have been reading as this year, 2019, is the 50th anniversary of man's first walk on the moon.

The Mercury Seven

Others

Scott Carpenter – 2nd man to orbit (3 times) Rene – wife Gordon Cooper, 4th man to orbit (36 hours, 22 orbits) Trudy – wife John Glenn - first man to orbit earth Annie – wife Virgil “Gus” Grissom – second man in space, died in Apollo 1 Betty – wife Walter Schirra – 3rd man to orbit (6 times), only one to fly in all three programs Alan Shepard – first man in space, 9 hours on moon with Apollo 14 Two sides to personality – Icy Commander and Smilin’ Al Louise Brewer – wife Deke Slayton – heart problems, became Coordinator of Astronaut Activities, would fly Apollo program

Pete Conrad- rebelled against testing for Mercury Seven, was not selected Chuck Yeager – “…the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff…” (page 35) Glennis - wife Pancho’s Fly Inn Tested men for astronaut position: Lovelace Clinic – physical Wright-Patterson Air Force Base – psychological Yuri Gagarin – Russian, first man in space Gherman Titov – Russian, 17 orbits around earth Robert Gilruth – head of Space Task Force Joe Walker – NASA X-15 pilot Bob White – Air Force X-15 pilot

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are for paperback edition.

1. In chapter IV when the pilots were called to the Pentagon for briefings about Project Mercury, administration worried that no one would volunteer for fear it would harm their career, but instead 56 out of 69 men who were at the meetings volunteered.   Could you understand what personality traits made them volunteer?
2. Joe Walker and Bob White, both X-15 pilots, were amazed that people were so excited about the Mercury astronauts when they did not actually fly.  They felt the planned landing, in water, was embarrassing.  Did you understand the publics excitement?  Why do you think the test pilots never got the recognition the astronauts did?
3. Discuss John Glenn.  He acted and spoke entirely differently than the other six and was always putting himself in the position to be selected to go to space first.  When he was not the be the first, he started to lobby to change the decision, but in Robert Gilruth’s judgement the decision was correct and it stayed.  Was there anything John Glenn could have done differently?
4. Did you think the peer vote was a fair way to decide who would go first?  It worked against Glenn even though he might have been the most dedicated.
5. Grissom and Glenn were polar opposites when it came to family time.  Glenn traveled home to be with his family most every weekend, while Grissom “…meant to be a family man, but somehow his career, or something, always got in the way” (page 92).   Grissom barely lived with his wife after marriage and did not see his first child until six months old and when Betty was in the hospital for 21 days, he visited one day.  Could there be a happy middle ground?
6. What did you think about Annie Glenn and Betty Grissom?   Annie had a bad stutter and John protected her from the media (chapter 12, pages 250-251).  Compare that to Betty Grissom who thought that the government was reneging on the “Military Wives Compact” when Gus did not receive much recognition after his flight due to the suspicion of his error. 
7. There were many unspoken rules described for the military people in the book.   Do you think they are in effect today?
1. It was the unofficial protocol that the officer’s wives did not discuss their fear of death (page 9)
2. Having the right stuff (page 18)
3. Flying & Drinking and Drinking & Driving (page 103)
4. Military Wives Compact (122)
5. The Cape was off limits to wives (page 129)
6. Konakai Séance where test pilots come to a common position (page 134)

8. Discuss the role of the wives in the Mercury Project.  Would this still happen today in the military?
1. Most of the astronauts wondered, “What possible difference could a wife’s attitude make about an opportunity for a giant step up the great ziggurat?” (page 90).
2. It was felt that, “…marital discord was a major cause of erratic behavior among pilots and often led to fatal accidents” (page 114).  Is it fair to put this blame on the wife?
3. In the Life articles, “The main thing was not to say or do anything that reflected badly upon your husband” (page 125). 
9. The astronauts were compared to the single-combat warriors of the Middle Ages (page 96) and because of this they had immunity to many of the standards the test pilots were held to.  Was this fair?
10. Initially the astronauts were trained using techniques focused on “de-conditioning, de-sensitizing, or adapting out fears” (page 144).  How was this different from the operant conditioning (avoidance of pain) and eventually the classical conditioning (rewards) used to train the chimpanzees?
11. What exactly is the right stuff?

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First Semester Success: 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from  amazon.com and a hard copy from wordassociation.com.   Click on the upper right link.