The Right Stuff

This narrative follows American test pilots and the first astronauts of the Mercury programme, from the desert work at Edwards, where Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier, to the political race to put a man in orbit. Wolfe describes the unofficial code of nerve and skill among pilots, the selection and public packaging of the seven Mercury men, and the contrast between flying a dangerous aircraft and sitting in a capsule as a passenger of engineers. Wives, press agents, and Cape Canaveral procedures share the frame. The book is New Journalism reportage about a profession, not a novel.

Bound in blue buckram, cover blocked in silver and orange with a design by Mark Broughton. Silver slipcase.