On October 9th, National geographic released a new show about the Mercury 7 on Disney +. This eight episode series will air a new episode every friday until the final episode is released on November 20th. This new drama follows Mercury 7, the astronauts that were a part of NASA’s Project Mercury, whose goal was to send the first crew to go into space and orbit the Earth. The show stars Patrick J. Adams as John Glenn, Jake McDorman as Alan Shpeherd, and Colin O’Donoghue as Gordon Cooper.

In an interview at The Irish Sun, Colin O’Donoghue, an Irish actor best known for his role as Killian Jones on ABC’s hit show, Once Upon a Time, he told the reporter that “…the pilot script for this was just the best pilot I’ve ever read. He’s (Gordon Cooper) such a complex character.” 

The Mercury 7 became instant celebrities after they joined the program, and their private lives were suddenly public and everyone wanted to know everything about their families and lives at home. Later in the interview, Colin spoke to how different times were during the Cold War in the late 1950’s. “Back then as a test pilot, let alone joining the space program, you couldn’t be divorced. It was completely frowned upon. You could drink a full bottle of whiskey in the afternoon and hop in an airplane, but you couldn’t get divorced. I think they saw it as some sort of flaw in you, which was so crazy.”

The show goes behind the scenes and shows the big impact that suddenly becoming celebrities had on the 7 pilots lives. The Right Stuff highlights the difficulties that the pilots faced at home and at the danger that the seven faced as they prepared for a dangerous mission to space. In the first two episodes we watch as the Mercury seven are selected and go through mental and medical testing before heading to Florida to begin training with NASA. 

“I’m so excited to see how all of the characters grow and develop during their training at NASA,” said junior Victoria Laszuk. “I originally wanted to watch the show because I recognize a lot of the actors and actresses, but now I’m invested in the story of these pilots and can’t wait for all the episodes to come out.”  

Head over to Disney + and catch up on the brave test pilots stories before the next episode is released on Friday October 15th.