In 1958, the members of Team Daedalus, a group of top Air Force test pilots, were ready to serve their country as the first Americans in space. When NASA replaced the Air Force for outer atmospheric testing, Team Daedalus was pushed aside and a chimpanzee got the honor. The team retired, but the dream of going into space never died.

Now, over four decades later, the Russian satellite Ikon has suffered a systems failure that Russian officials insist will cause a total communications blackout in their country. A NASA bureaucrat stumbles toward a solution ­ and finds it in a very unexpected place. Since Ikon has the same guidance system as early American satellite Skylab, Skylab's designer should know how to fix Ikon.

Now retired, Frank Corvin is the one man alive who can do the job. This is the chance of a lifetime but Frank won't take it unless he can bring the only crew he trusts to do the job with him. Team Daedalus is back in action. To train for this rigorous mission, Corvin steps into the TBG arena.