The Right Stuff
Define and/or explain the following:
- test pilot:
- sound barrier:
- "push the outside of the envelope":
- "top of the pyramid":
- "the demon that lives in the thin air":
- Edwards Air Force Base:
- Sputnik:
- "No bucks; no Buck Rogers":
- At the beginning of the film, we see Man's effort to break the sound
barrier.
- Who is the first man to break this barrier?
- What kind of plane did he fly?
- When was this?
- Where did this happen?
- Why didn't the government want publicity about this historic event?
- What happened in 1957 to make the U.S. government anxious to upgrade
its space program?
- Why do the government officials reject the top test pilots, like Yeager,
as candidates for astronauts?
- List and describe the various tests that the astronaut candidates take:
- A.
- B.
- C.
- D.
- E.
- Name and describe the seven Mercury astronauts:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- This film won an Oscar for best editing. Give two examples of scenes
that stand out for editing, and tell what the editing does for the scene:
- A.
- B.
- Identify which character is being referred to below:
- A. "My name José Jimanez":
- B. "Who's the best pilot you ever saw?":
- C. Mr. Clean Marine:
- D. "Lend me a stick of Beeman's. I'll pay you back later.":
- The movie shows how the news media are very important in deciding policy.
Explain how this works:
- The movie also shows how politicians and politics get involved with
the U.S. Space program. Describe two incidents that show this:
- A.
- B.
- Give some details about the following historic space flights:
- First man in space and his country:
- First "American" in space:
- First U.S. man in space:
- Who:
- What problems did he encounter?
- Second U.S. man in space:
- Who?
- What problems did he encounter?
- First U.S. man to orbit the Earth:
- Who?
- What unusual sight did he see?
- What problems did he encounter?
- Last U.S. man to orbit the Earth alone:
- What did Chuck Yeager finally think of our astronauts?
- What does having the "Right Stuff" mean? Give examples from the movie
to illustrate what you mean.
- Some people argue that we shouldn't put much money into our Space
Program while we have so many problems to solve right here on Earth. Write
a well developed paragraph to explain your thoughts on this.