Plot: In 1958, four hot shot test pilots seem certain to be the first men to go into outer space. However, the back-stabbing leader, Bob Gerson (James Cromwell), of their organization disbands them to prevent their involvement in the then-forming N.A.S.A., and labels them as non-team players. Flash forward to the present, the foursome are now living a docile life. Electrical engineer Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood) has a pleasant retired life in a desert home with his wife Barbara (Barbara Babcock). Pilot "Hawk" Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), who had a penchant for pushing the test planes to their limits, is now a daredevil crop duster. Navigator "Tank" Sullivan (James Garner) is a Baptist minister. Designer Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland) is a womanizing roller coaster designer. Their former boss, Eugene Davis (William Devane), is now a mission leader at N.A.S.A. and still as despicable as in his younger days. It is here that the main story begins. It seems that an old Russian "communications" satellite is about to crash back into the Earth's atmosphere and somehow American technology designed by Frank Corvin has ended up as the guiding system. Of course, because of the old technology, only the original team can save the day. As Bob Gerson makes many learning statements about the satellite to Russian General Vostov (Rade Serbedzija), who is working with the Americans to save the day, you know there is something much more nefarious about the satellite. After some struggles to get the four to pass their physicals in less than thirty days, the four, with two young counterparts, are launched on the space shuttle to fix the satellite. Ethan Glance (Loren Dean) has somehow been coerced to be in on the subterfuge involving Gerson, and in an unexplained action, he tries to make connections on the satellite that causes the whole mission to become a disaster and creates the greatest action sequences in this movie.
Alternative Plot: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner star as a group of pilots whose time has come to serve their country and fulfill their dream of going to space. In 1958, the members of Team Daedalus, a group of top Air Force test pilots, were ready to serve their country as the first Americans in space. When NASA replaced the Air Force for outer atmospheric testing, they were pushed aside for a chimpanzee. The team retired, but the dream of going into space never died.
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