In 1958, two United States Air Force pilots and aspiring astronauts, William "Hawk" Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), are testing a modified X-plane when Hawk decides to break a height record. The plane stalls and they are forced to eject, narrowly missing a Boeing B-50 Superfortress flying with navigator "Tank" Sullivan (James Garner) as they parachute to safety. On the ground, Frank punches Hawk for putting their lives at risk, but their fight is broken up by flight engineer Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland). Their supervising officer, Bob Gerson (James Cromwell), chastises Hawk for his recklessness, before taking them to a press conference, where it is announced that the Air Force will no longer be involved in space flight tests as this has now been handed off to the newly created NASA, ending the four's dreams of reaching space.