The space pioneers who started it all

Space is big on TV at present. Among other shows, there’s Away – a sci-fi drama about a mission to Mars; Challenger: The Final Flight, a documentary series about the space shuttle disaster; and Space Force, a Steve Carell comedy. But here’s the origin of them all: the story of Mercury Seven – America’s first astronauts. Based on the Tom Wolfe bestseller, this is a fact-based drama about the obsessive, competitive, alpha-male military test pilots selected in 1959 by the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) for the space programme. They are flawed heroes but they become instant celebrities, splashed on the cover of every magazine. The story focuses on John Glenn (Patrick J. Adams), a high-minded family man, and Alan Shepard (Jake McDorman, above, with Shannon Lucio), a fellow with an eye for the ladies and ‘one of the best pilots the Navy has ever seen’, but ‘also one of the most reckless’. The stakes are high – far more than just the lives of the astronauts. ‘What we’re doing here has consequences for the entire world,’ says a Nasa boss.

‘If Russia gets a man into space first, we could lose the Cold War.’

Disney+, from Friday