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You know their story. You’ve likely already seen the movie or even read the best-selling book by Tom Wolfe. But now the iconic story of America’s first astronauts, known as the Mercury Seven, is coming to TV. Disney+ announced Thursday that the eight-episode The Right Stuff will debut on the streaming service on Friday, Oct. 9 with a two-episode premiere. Disney+ also revealed the first full-length trailer for the series, which you can watch above.
The Right Stuff, which was produced for National Geographic before moving to Disney+, examines the early days of the U.S. Space Program and the exciting and inspiring space race that gripped the United States during the Cold War, but it also reveals how these astronauts and their families were thrust into the spotlight and became celebrities overnight, whether they were ready for it or not.
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Bringing those American heroes to life are Patrick J. Adams as Major John Glenn; Jake McDorman as Lieutenant Commander Alan Shepard; Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Gordo Cooper; Aaron Staton as Wally Schirra; James Lafferty as Scott Carpenter; Micah Stock as Deke Slayton; and Michael Trotter as Gus Grissom. Patrick Fischler and Eric Ladin portray Bob Gilruth and Chris Kraft, the NASA engineers who helped select the soon-to-be-heroes from a pool of military test pilots and get the space program off the ground.
But this isn’t just the story of the Mercury Seven; the series also features the astronauts’ wives and families. Nora Zehetner portrays Annie Glenn, who battles a speech impairment in the public eye; Shannon Lucio plays Louise Shepard, a wife and mother who refuses to let her husband’s transgressions affect her family; and Eloise Mumford brings to life Trudy Cooper, an accomplished pilot in her own right who puts her dreams aside in order to present the image of a happy family.
The Right Stuff premieres with two episodes on Friday, Oct. 9 on Disney+.
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