At the height of the Cold War, newly formed NASA selects seven of the military’s best test pilots to become astronauts. Competing to be the first in space, these men achieve the extraordinary, inspiring the world to turn towards a new horizon of ambition and hope.
The peaks and the valleys. Find the essential episodes — and the ones to skip.
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.
The press descends upon the domestic lives of the astronauts. Shepard and Gordo wilt under the limelight while Glenn thrives. Glenn secures a deal with Life Magazine that grants exclusive access to all seven astronauts in return for life-altering compensation. By the time the astronauts arrive in Florida to begin work, even Shepard has come to understand the power they now hold.
An indiscretion leads to a greater conflict that could determine who will be chosen first.
JFK sends a science committee to Cape Canaveral to assess the validity of the space program. Glenn, burning from the results of the peer vote, drafts letters to politicians complaining that Shepard is morally unfit to be the first man in space. But matters of internal power plays and a skeptical president are soon dwarfed by news out of Russia that could be the nail in Project Mercury’s coffin.
Each point is an episode, plotted in order. Colored bands mark season boundaries. Look for the rise, the plateau, or the decline.
High votes + high rating = beloved classic. High votes + low rating = notorious stinker. Low votes + high rating = hidden gem.
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