As a kid, I watched The Right Stuff more times than I can count.

It’s a fun story about the beginnings of the NASA space program and test pilots. But mostly it’s about egos.

Lately, the opening’s been stuck in my head.

“There was a demon that lived in the thin air; they said anyone who challenged him would die. Their controls would seize up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter.” – Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff.