In 1958, Team Daedalus, the elite U.S Aire Force test pilot team was in training to become the first Americans in space. But at the eleventh hour, NASA grounded the mission, sending a chimpanzee into space instead.
Team Daedalus was fogotten to history. Until now.
NASA has received a distress call from the Russian space control - a giant Soviet era satallite is threatening to crash to earth resulting in a global communication blackout.
Only one team of astronauts is familiar with the outmoded technology of the "Sputnik" and competent enough to carry out the dangerous mission. Team Daedalus Commander Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood) and his crack crew of Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), O'Neil (Donald Sutherland) and Sullivan (James Garner) are finally about to get their mission to space - even if it is over 40 years too late.