In 1958, four hot shot test pilots seem certain to be the first men to go into outer space. However, the back-stabbing leader of their organization disbands them to prevent their involvement in the then forming NASA and labels them as non-team players. Flash forward to the present, the foursome are now living a docile life. The electrical engineer (Clint Eastwood has a pleasant retired life in a desert home with his wife (Barbara Babcock). The pilot (Tommy Lee Jones), who had a penchant for pushing the test planes to their limits, is now a daredevil crop-duster. The navigator (James Garner) is a Baptist minister. The designer (Donald Sutherland) is a womanizing roller coaster designer. Their former boss (James Cromwell) is now a mission leader in Nasa 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 Eastwood's character has ended up as the guiding system. Of course, because of the old technology, only the original team can save the day. As Cromwell's character makes many learing statements about the satellite to the Russian general 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 30 days, the four with two young counterparts (Loren Dean, Courtney B. Vance) are launched on the space shuttle to fix the satellite. Dean's character has somehow been coerced to be in on the subterfuge involving Cromwell 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 the film...