Editing The Right Stuff (film) (section)

===Historical accuracy===
Although ''The Right Stuff'' was based on historic events and real people, as previously interpreted by Tom Wolfe in his book, some substantial dramatic liberties were taken. Neither Yeager's flight in the X-1 to break the sound barrier early in the film or his later nearly-fatal flight in the NF-104A was spur-of-moment capriciously decided event, as the film seems to imply. Both were actually were part of the routine testing program for both aircraft. Yeager had already test-flown both aircraft a number of times and was very familiar with them.<ref>Young, Dr. James.. [http://www.chuckyeager.com/1945-1947-mach-buster "Mach Buster."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205711/http://www.chuckyeager.com/1945-1947-mach-buster |date=2020-11-15 }} ''Air Force Flight Test Center History Office'', 2014. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NF104-YeagerInterview.htm "Chuck Yeager, in his our words, regarding his experience with the NF-104."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205704/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/NF104-YeagerInterview.htm |date=2020-11-15 }} ''Check-six.com'',  April 23, 2014. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e32CPRXEZ7s Complete Video: Then Col. Chuck Yeager Crash In NF-104A Dec 10, 1963 At Edwards Air Force Base], Photography Branch Edwards Air Force Base, December 10, 1963, uploaded to YouTube by Edwards Air Force Base December 10, 2019.</ref>
Jack Ridley had actually died in 1957,<ref>[https://history.nasa.gov/x1/ridley.html "Jack Ridley."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205827/https://history.nasa.gov/x1/ridley.html |date=2020-11-15 }} ''Nasa'' September 18, 1997. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref> even though his character appears in several key scenes taking place after that, most notably including Yeager's 1963 flight of the NF-104A.

Other notable inaccuracies include the early termination of Glenn's flight after three orbits, instead of seven, when the flight was scheduled for at most three orbits, and the engineers who built the Mercury craft portrayed as Germans though they were mostly Americans.<ref name="Wilford"/>

''The Right Stuff'' depicts Cooper arriving at Edwards in 1953, reminiscing with Grissom there about the two of them having supposedly flown together at the [[Langley Field|Langley Air Force Base]], and then hanging out with Grissom and Slayton, including all three supposedly being present at Edwards when [[Scott Crossfield]] flew at [[Supersonic speed|Mach 2]] in November 1953.<ref>[http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Famed-aviator-Scott-Crossfield-dies-in-plane-crash-1201589.php "Famed aviator Scott Crossfield dies in plane crash."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714122154/http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Famed-aviator-Scott-Crossfield-dies-in-plane-crash-1201589.php |date=2014-07-14 }} ''The Seattle Times,'' April 19, 2006.</ref> The film shows the three of them being recruited together there for the astronaut program in late 1957, with Grissom supposedly expressing keen interest in becoming a "star-voyager". According to their respective NASA biographies, none of the three was posted to Edwards before 1955 (Slayton in 1955<ref>Gray, Tara. [https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/slayton.htm "Donald K. 'Deke' Slayton".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205713/https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/slayton.htm |date=2020-11-15 }} ''NASA''. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref> and Grissom and Cooper in 1956,<ref name="Grissom">Zornio, Mary C. [https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/grissom.htm Virgil Ivan 'Gus' Grissom."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205718/https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/grissom.htm |date=2020-11-15 }} ''NASA''. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref><ref>Gray, Tara. [https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/cooper.htm "L. Gordon Cooper, Jr."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115205707/https://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/cooper.htm |date=2020-11-15 }} ''NASA''. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.</ref>) and neither of the last two had trained at Langley. When astronaut recruitment began in late 1957, after the Soviets had orbited [[Sputnik]], Grissom had already left Edwards and returned to [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]], where he had served and was happy with his new assignment there. Grissom did not even know that he was under consideration for the astronaut program until he received mysterious orders "out of the blue" to report to Washington in civilian clothing for what turned out to be a recruitment session for NASA.<ref name="Grissom"/> <!--There has also been criticism from his fellow astronauts of the way the film portrayed Grissom’s loss of his capsule, feeling it unfairly cast him in an unfavorable light.---See much more detailed explanation of the Liberty 7 incident in the 'Reviews' section of the "Reception"---->

The film drew heaviest criticism for its portrayal of [[Gus Grissom]] during the splashdown of ''[[Liberty Bell 7]]'', which left readers and viewers with the impression that Grissom panicked and blew the hatch bolts, whereas the book stated that only some people considered that he may have done so. Most historians, as well as engineers working for or with [[NASA]] and many of the related contractor agencies within the aerospace industry, are now convinced that the premature detonation of the spacecraft hatch's explosive bolts was caused by mechanical failure that was not associated with direct human error or deliberate detonation by Grissom.{{refn|Schirra proved that activating the hatch explosives would have left a large welt on any part of the body that came in contact with the trigger. He proved that on his Mercury flight when he intentionally blew the hatch on October 3, 1962 when his spacecraft was on the deck of the recovery carrier.<ref name ="Buckbee">Buckbee and Schirra 2005, pp. 72–73.</ref>|group = Note}} That determination had been made long before the film was completed.<ref name="Buckbee" /> Many astronauts, including Schirra, Cooper and Shepard, were critical of ''The Right Stuff'' for its treatment of Grissom,<ref>Buckbee and Schirra 2005, p. 72.</ref><ref>Cooper 2000, p. 33.</ref><ref name="ShepardRose" /> who had been killed in the [[Apollo 1]] launch pad fire in January 1967 and thus unable to defend himself when the film was being made.