The TV version of Tom Wolfe‘s non-fiction bestseller “The Right Stuff” is right around the corner. According to showrunner Mark Lafferty, it could not come at a better time. The Nat Geo series, which starts streaming on Disney + on October 9, tells the story of the early days of NASA and the space race. While the action takes place more than half a century ago, its relevance persists in our modern age, the EP observes in the video above.
“Any good story isn’t just applicable to the time in which it takes place,” argues Lafferty. “When we put our minds to something, human beings have done things that might seem unachievable. Innovation, aspiration, that’s a big part of the reason we want to tell this story now.” He adds that while the Mercury Seven, the first NASA astronauts who take center stage in the series, had great adversity, they each achieved success, which is “something that we can all look up to and we can all aspire to.”
Disney+ will begin streaming the first two episodes of this new drama series on Friday. The series stars Jake McDorman, Patrick J. Adams, James Lafferty, Aaron Staton, Colin O’Donoghue, Micah Stock and Michael Trotter as the Mercury Seven. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the executive producers, with his production company, Appian Way, partnering with NatGeo and Warner Horizon Television on the series.
The behind-the-scenes featurette includes clips from the series, with a focus on the camaraderie between the Mercury Seven. “You see people coming together, looking in the same direction, trying to achieve a common goal,” states Lafferty, “and for people around the world, it’s important that we all start to look at things that might seem impossible and to say, “We can do them.'”
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