Sam Shepard	Capt/Col. Chuck Yeager
Scott Glenn	Capt. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.
Dennis Quaid	Capt. Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr.
Ed Harris	Maj. John Herschel Glenn Jr.,
Scott Paulin	Capt. Donald Kent Slayton
Fred Ward	Capt. Virgil Ivan Grissom
Barbara Hershey	Glennis Yeager
Kim Stanley	Pancho Barnes
Veronica Cartwright	Betty Grissom
Pamela Reed	Trudy Cooper
Charles Frank	Scott Carpenter
Lance Henriksen	Wally Schirra
Donald Moffat	Lyndon B. Johnson
Levon Helm	Capt. Jack Ridley/Narrator
Mary Jo Deschanel	Annie Glenn

Director	Philip Kaufman
Producer	Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler
Writer	Philip Kaufman Tom Wolfe
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Musician	Bill Conti

This film follows the early years of the American space program and NASA, from its beginnings through the Mercury Missions. After test pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) breaks the sound barrier in a landmark flight, he seems a shoe-in to join the ranks of the first men in space, but suprisingly is passed up for others. The film explores the early training the astronauts were given and the publicity circus that surrounds them. The astronauts are an unruly group; hotheads "Gordo" Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) rub up against straight arrow John Glenn (Ed Harris) in a contest of egos. Who will be the first man to orbit the Earth? Meanwhile, Chuck Yeager struggles to make a historical flight of his own, and the astronauts' wives adjust to being in the giant shadow their husbands now cast.

Edition Details Country USA Language English Region Region 1 No. of Disks/Tapes 1

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