History YMMV / TheRightStuff

* SignatureScene: The scene of the astronauts taking a PowerWalk together, which has since gone on to be one of the most referenced and parodied moments in pop culture.

** HAM is actually an anagram for Holloman Aero-Medical Research Laboratories. Up until his flight, he was known as [[YouAreNumberSix Number 65.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: On seeing the capsule for the first time, the astronauts refer to themselves as "Spam in a can." Popular belief has it that Spam is short for "spiced ham." The name of the ape who made the first flight? Ham.

* HarsherInHindsight: The lines "You know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.", and "No bucks, no ComicStrip/BuckRogers.", was very painful when NASA was at a standstill after the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.

* HilariousInHindsight: On seeing the capsule for the first time, the astronauts refer to themselves as "Spam in a can." Popular belief has it that Spam is short for "spiced ham." The name of the jimp who made the first flight? Ham.

** "Mars" and "Jupiter" from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" are used to an epic effect during John Glenn's launch.

* AngstDissonance: Grissom's prolonged attempt to prove he's not a "squirming hatch-blower." It's unfortunate, but at that point the movie has been going on for over an hour and it's hard to care about one guy's reputation amidst other people's fears of dying in space or the Soviets beating the US.
** To be fair, he's also put his life at a deal of risk (he almost drowned while waiting for retrieval, even though it wasn't made explicit in the film), and it is justified that he felt hurt and humiliated by the substantial difference in treatment by the authorities (although it's hinted that the President had [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion other things on his mind]] at the moment.) Plus, it could be argued that for these guys reputation was almost - if not equally - as important as their life (Walter Schirra even made it a point to clear Grissom's name on his flight by deliberately blowing the hatch after retrieval - another event not shown in the movie.) The scene is mostly undermined by the fact that we know in real life the interaction between NASA and Grissom wasn't nearly as antagonistic.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Certainly the high point of Bill Conti's composing career.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** The lines "You know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.", and "No bucks, no ComicStrip/BuckRogers.", was very painful when NASA was at a standstill after the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
** After Creator/SamShepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself lived to the age of 97.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome

** After Gus Grissom's flight, NASA executives realized that the explosive bolts were faulty and would pre-maturely explode on their own; therefore, NASA removed the explosive hatch on later models to avoid this from ever happening again. This became the ultimate demise of Grissom when the Apollo 1 capsule caught fire and the hatch could not open due to the immense pressure inside the capsule, [[NightmareFuel trapping the 3 astronauts to their fiery deaths]].

** After Creator/SamShepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself is, as of 2020, still alive at 97.

** To be fair, he's also put his life at a deal of risk (he almost drowned while waiting for retrieval, even though it wasn't made explicit in the film), and it is justified that he felt hurt and humiliated by the substantial difference in treatment by the authorities (although it's hinted that the President had [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion other things on his mind]] at the moment.) Plus, it could be argued that for these guys reputation was almost - if not equally - as important as their life (Walter Schirra even made it a point to clear Grissom's name on his flight by deliberately blowing the hatch after retrieval - another event not shown in the movie.) The scene is mostly undermined by his gratingly inconsiderate and petty wife (the "risked her life to drive here" remark was particularly cutting, in light of what her husband just went through), and the fact that we know in real life the interaction between NASA and Grissom wasn't nearly as antagonistic.

** In the movie, Shepard peeing in his spacesuit.

** After Creator/SamShepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself is, as of 2019, still alive at 96.

** After Sam Shepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself is, as of 2019, still alive at 96.

** After Sam Shepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself is, as of 2019 still alive at 96.

** After Sam Shepard portrayed Chuck Yeager so memorably, he died on July 27, 2017 at age 73 of complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while Yeager himself was still alive at 94.

** To be fair, he's also put his life at a deal of risk (he almost drowned while waiting for retrieval, even though it wasn't made explicit in the film), and it is justified that he felt hurt and humiliated by the substantial difference in treatment by the authorities (although it's hinted that the President had [[UsefulNotes/BayOfPigsInvasion other things on his mind]] at the moment.) Plus, it could be argued that for these guys reputation was almost - if not equally - as important as their life (Walter Schirra even made it a point to clear Grissom's name on his flight by deliberately blowing the hatch after retrieval - another event not shown in the movie.) The scene is mostly undermined by his gratingly inconsiderate and petty wife (the "risked her life to drive here" remark was particularly cutting), and the fact that we know in real life the interaction between the authorities and Grissom wasn't nearly as antagonistic.