An excellent historically accurate yet fictionalized account of the birth of the United States space program. The fear and paranoia of the Soviet lead in space if well presented here. It seems to be the driving reason for our push and some of the bad decisions along the way. Loved the casting here. All of the fighter jocks show that proper amount of arrogance as well as the rivalry between the branches of service. Special effects were outstanding for 1983, particularly the scenes where John Glenn is orbiting the earth. I thought it was a little awkward where they presented about half of our heroes as womanizers but they did use that theme to show how difficult the training was and how the men came together afterwards. But still, don't think I would have put that stuff in. At over 3 hours in length, it doesn't feel that long but it could have been trimmed quite a bit.