It’s 1959 and Russia is winning the space race. In order to compete, The United States forms NASA and chooses to recruit the nations best test pilots to form what will become the Mercury Astronauts. Among these test pilots are the golden boy John Glenn, the reckless Alan Shepard, and Gordo Cooper, whose broken marriage could cost him a place at the program.

Trudy meets with Jerrie Cobb and is invited to join the first all-female-astronaut corps. The Mercury 7 are sent to San Diego for some glad-handing, but the trip sours when Shepard is caught by a reporter with another woman. Glenn helps Shepard get the story spiked, but his moralizing drives a wedge between him and the other astronauts that will directly affect who is chosen to go to space first.

After Shepard’s dramatic voyage to space, he feels underwhelmed and restless. Heeding Glenn’s advice, Shepard attempts to quell his ambition with gratitude for his wife and children. While Shepard’s marriage somehow remains intact, Gordo and Trudy’s may never recover. Meanwhile, when JFK publicly issues a challenge for NASA to send a man to the moon, Glenn’s drive to top Shepard is reignited.