Revealing mistake: In the scene in which Alan Shepard is about to land his jet on the aircraft carrier, the plane seen from the outside is a single-seat A-4 attack plane. But inside the cockpit actor Scott Glenn lowers his sunshade, and reflected on the shade can be seen the wings of a two-seat jet trainer, the T-33A.
The Right Stuff (1983)
1 revealing mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn
Factual error: In the Vostok launch clip, it shows Yuri Gagarin lifting off at night. The actual liftoff occurred during the day, at 9:07 AM (Moscow Time). Plus the rocket shown in the launch clip isn't even a Vostok rocket, it's a later variant used by the current Soyuz spacecraft. (Evident by the color, and on the top of the rocket is a Soyuz escape system). (01:43:50)
Liaison Man: You mean for this "space race", you don't want our best pilots?
Recruiter: I didn't say that. We want the best pilots that we can get.
Trivia: An obvious reference to the news media being an annoying swarm by the sounds of swarming locusts in the background whenever the media shows up.
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