![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Although the pilots at Edwards keep going higher and faster in ships they both pilot and land, President Eisenhower orders a hurry-up program to get a man into space. Under the direction of their anonymous Chief Designer, the Russians have launched the first orbiting satellite and America lives in fear of what the Russians could drop on. The country's fear of the Russians is great and growing. In the post-war, Cold War paranoia, the Army orders that this achievement should be kept secret. The planes that fly the fastest and highest are tested by the best pilots, and in the late forties and fifties, the best of the best is Chuck Yeager.ĭespite rumors that it is impossible to fly faster than the speed of sound, Yeager breaks the sound barrier. For the pilots, the greatest reward is to be chosen to test planes at Muroc (later Edwards) Air Base. It is understood that part of military service involves early sacrifices for later rewards. While at every stage of their training candidates quit, wash out or die, those who persist begin to recognize and live by an unspoken set of standards and assumptions summed up as having "the right stuff." Their wives are subject to the unwritten rules and standards, as well, and they comprehend the very good chance that their husbands may die. Test pilots may be the cockiest, most arrogant young men in the world. ![]()
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