Ep 5. The Kona Kai Seance

The Kona Kai Seance is the fifth episode of the first season of The Right Stuff. Set in the 1960s, the show follows the early days of the US space program and the lives of the Mercury Seven astronauts. The episode opens with the astronauts and their wives arriving in Hawaii for a press conference after their successful space missions.

While in Hawaii, the astronauts attend a party at the Kona Kai resort where they are introduced to a group of spiritualists who are holding a seance. John Glenn, who is skeptical of the supernatural, is drawn to the seance and becomes convinced that his deceased father is trying to communicate with him. The other astronauts are initially dismissive of the seance but are eventually persuaded to participate.

Meanwhile, the astronauts' wives struggle to fit into the rigid expectations of the space program and yearn for more independence. Rene Carpenter, in particular, begins to question her role as a NASA wife and the sacrifices she has made for her husband's career.

Back at NASA headquarters, Deke Slayton and the other administrators are concerned about the public's reaction to the news that Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft is missing. They scramble to find a way to recover the spacecraft before the Soviets can get their hands on it.

The Kona Kai Seance is a tense and emotional episode that explores the personal lives of the Mercury Seven astronauts and their families. The seance scene is particularly well-done and adds an unexpected supernatural element to the show. The episode also raises interesting questions about the sacrifices that the astronauts and their families have made for the sake of the space program.