|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Earliest space use of 'the right stuff'
|
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 04-10-2019 08:33 AM
  
The expression "the right stuff" can be traced back several centuries, but obviously not in an aviation/space context.When (in fact or fiction) was the first use of "the right stuff" in relation to space exploration? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 04-10-2019 08:56 AM
Another forum on word origins suggests the earliest application of "the right stuff" to aerospace subjects was by Tom Wolfe in the headline for the first of his four part series, "Post Orbital Remorse," published in Rolling Stone on Jan. 4, 1974 as "Part One: The Brotherhood of The Right Stuff."For his part, Wolfe was asked about its origins in 2003: You know, I'm not really sure I can remember where it came from, or what I was thinking. I was on deadline. There was so much material, and what was supposed to be one story became four. What most excited me, though, was this theory of the Right Stuff. That I remember. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 04-10-2019 04:14 PM
I found those various citations too, but I have also found a much earlier use of "the right stuff" in a specifically "space" context.The English writer John Wyndham ("The Day of the Triffids"; "The Midwich Cuckoos" etc) wrote a novel originally published in 1936 under the title "Planet Plane" but now known as "Stowaway to Mars." The hero is like a cross between Elon Musk and Indiana Jones. His Mars rocket reminds me of the Super Heavy. Just before the launch, referring to his co-pilot, the hero notes: "The lad was the right stuff. He was glad he had chosen him out of the thousands of possibles to be his assistant pilot and navigator." Not just aviation, but an actual spaceflight reference to "the right stuff" in 1936. It's also worth noting that the book (which is set in 1981) refers to the first circumnavigation of the Moon in 1969! A couple of weeks out a third of a century earlier. |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
|
posted 04-10-2019 07:05 PM
That is a fantastic find! 1936... think about how new aviation was at that time, let alone spaceflight being a distant dream. Too bad we can't ask Wolfe if he had ever read that story, and maybe had a seed planted in his mind that he recalled when he wrote his original articles. |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
|
posted 04-10-2019 08:36 PM
Curiously enough, British author John Wyndham had a huge impact on my life, beginning when I was just 15. The first of his books that I read was "The Kraken Wakes." I was so enthralled with it I decided to write to him in care of his publishers, Penguin, both to compliment him on the book and ask how he had started out, as I wanted to follow a similar path one day. He sent me two long handwritten letters in which he suggested I begin by writing short stories and gave me other advice. Sadly, I lent these letters to a schoolfriend to read a long time ago, but she never returned them, saying they had somehow been lost. I was devastated.However, when the University of Nebraska Press invited me to become series editor for their set of space books I needed to come up with a name for the series and looked at John Wyndham's books in my home library, coming across "The Outward Urge." I elaborated on that, and thus the series became Outward Odyssey. I do recall that in one of his letters, Wyndham said he was excited by the first human spaceflights, and was looking forward to the day when the first person set foot on the moon. Sadly, he died in March 1969. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 04-11-2019 07:45 AM
A fascinating account, Colin. Biographical notes about Wyndham simply state that he died in March, 1969. I sincerely hope he was well enough the previous year to follow the news about Apollo 8, which would have convinced him that a landing was certainly achievable and probably imminent.I should add that my paperback copy of "Stowaway to Mars" actually states "copyright 1935." | |
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 2020 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
|
|
|
 advertisement
|
