Leonardo DiCaprio from his Appian Way and Jennifer Davisson from Warner Horizon Scripted Television are executive producers; alongside Mark Lafferty as executive producer and showrunner.
Production on The Right Stuff will begin later in 2019.
National Geographic says The Right Stuff "takes a clear-eyed, non-nostalgic look at the lives of these ambitious astronauts and their families, who became instant celebrities in a competition that would either kill them or make them immortal".
The first season of The Right Stuff which uses the book as its starting point takes place at the height of the Cold War in 1958 when the Soviets are dominating the space race.
The American public is in fear of a nation in decline, so the American government conceives of a solution - NASA's Project Mercury - creating the country's premier astronauts from a handful of the military's adrenaline-junkie test pilots.
Seven individuals, known as the Mercury Seven, are plucked from obscurity and soon forged into heroes long before they have achieved a single heroic act. Within the heart of this historical drama that's populated by deeply human characters, two archrivals - John Glenn and Alan Shepard - jockey to be the first in space.
Subsequent seasons of The Right Stuff will carry through to the epochal Apollo space programme, where humankind saw one of its greatest achievements - man setting foot on the moon - and missions beyond.
"The behind-the-scenes stories of the astronauts in Tom Wolfe's bestseller The Right Stuff are engaging, provocative and timeless," says Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president, global scripted content and documentary films, at National Geographic.
"The book's narrative aligns perfectly with the qualities that we look for in scripted projects: fact-based, wildly entertaining and pushing the limits of human achievement."
"The Right Stuff is about a moment when the country looked in the same direction to achieve the stuff of fantasy, and on a timeline that was nearly impossible," says Mark Lafferty.
"The story is a reminder of what we're capable of, but it also shows how much we've changed and diversified over time. National Geographic is the perfect home to showcase the ambitious and colourful characters at the centre of this pioneering era."
