Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the movie The Right Stuff, the US and Russia competed in the "space race". They were both competing to be the first ones to explore the final frontier. Russia was in a sense winning this competition. They were the first ones to get a satelite into space and the first ones to get a man into space. The US always seemed to be one step behind. Only 2 weeks after the US had sent the first monkey into space, Russia managed to get the first man into orbit. One of the scenes that will help me remember this event, is the intense training that they putt he astronauts through. It just shows how determined the US was to getting someone up there and willing to go as far as to nearly kill someone to do it.