In a new clip from Disney+'s The Right Stuff, the space race is underway, with the US Space Program looking for the best and brightest to become the country's very first astronauts.
The Right Stuff is Disney+'s first scripted series from its collaboration with National Geographic and follows the Mercury Seven, the elite team that becomes America's first astronauts. The clip picks up with Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepherd after he receives the letter that will change his life.
According to the official series synopsis,
Based on the iconic bestseller by Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff is 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. As much about who we are today as it is about historic achievements, 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 only home to venture into the vast unknown.
The Right Stuff will run for eight episodes on the Disney+ streaming service. Castle Rock's Mark Lafferty will showrun the series, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Chris Long, Howard Korder and Will Staples executive producing. Thelma Schoonmaker and Danny Strong are attached as consulting producers. Long also directed the series' first episode.
Arriving on Disney+ this fall, The Right Stuff stars Patrick J. Adams, Jake McDorman, Colin O’Donoghue, Michael Trotter, Aaron Staton, Micah Stock, James Lafferty, Nora Zehetner, Shannon Lucio, Eloise Mumford, Eric Ladin and Patrick Fischler.