Mad #247 (Albert Feldstein) - Right Stuff Issue - June 1984

The Mad editors really blew the cover of this issue.  The Richard Williams drawing shows the Mercury astronauts as The Seven Dwarfs.  But where is Alfred E. Neuman?  He should have replaced Dopey.  The Dick DeBartolo/Mort Drucker feature parody closely follows the movie, The Right Stuff which was based on the 1979 book by Tom Wolfe. 

One of the "After-MUSH" patients has a Jack Daniels I.V.

Project Mercury (1959-1963) was the first U.S. manned spaceflight program.  The program consisted of 20 unmanned flights and six (1961-1963) with human cargo.  Although the astronauts were talented pilots, there was really not much for them to do but enjoy the ride.  John Glenn (current age - 89) and Scott Carpenter (age 85) are the living members of the team.  Alan Shepard (1923-1998) was the first U.S. astronaut and second person to travel from Earth into space.  He also made a trip to the moon in 1971 0n Apollo 14.  Shepard died of leukemia.  Gus Grissom (1926-1967) was the second U.S. Astronaut.  Grissom died in a terrible pre-launch test accident for Apollo 1.  Glenn was third to go and the first to orbit the planet.  He served as U.S. senator from Ohio (1974-1999) and became the oldest person in space in 1998 on a space shuttle mission.  Carpenter was fourth.  Wally Schirra (1923-2007) was fifth and also flew in Gemini and Apollo missions.  He died of a heart attack.  Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) flew on the final Mercury mission.  Cooper also flew on Gemini 5.  He died of complications from Parkinson's Disease.  Deke Slayton (1924-1993) was grounded because of a heart program but was later reinstated and flew on an Apollo-Soyuz docking mission in 1975.  Slayton died of a brain tumor. [JAM 2/19/2011]

Departments:
Blast-Offul - The Right Stiff
Don Martin - One Morning on the West Coast; One Afternoon in a Large City; One Dark Night on the East Coast
Off the Wall - A Hospital Bulletin Board
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Offers You Can't Refuse - The MOB 1984 Shop-By-Mail Catalogue
Turning Back the Crock - Runners-Up to the Three Biggest Lies in America
Neumanclature - More Additions to the Dictionary
Class Act - Academy Awards for Teachers
The Eerie of Relativity - Time Flies ... Time Drags (And Vice Versa)
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Lemon Aid - The Mad Owners Manual for a New American Car
That's Chauv Biz! - It's a Mad, Mad World
Miss Mash - After-MUSH

Fold-In - Frozen Missile