Original subtitles

[astronaut] With a view like this,

I don't know why the whole damn capsule

is not made of glass.

[control center] Enjoy it while you can.

Last spin on the merry-go-round.

Re-entry insertion window minus 21 minutes, 10 seconds.

[astronaut] I made it, Madelaine.

[control center] Aspire 7, we're reading a little bit of drift.

1.5 degrees per second.

I can feel it. Should I correct it manually?

[control center] Negative, we're going to stay fly-by-wire.

Initiating one pound yaw left thrust.

Looks good. It's stabilizing.

[signal breaking up]

Say again, Control.

I'm getting break up on broad band H-F.

Roll horizon scanner is down.

What the hell?

There's some kind of pyrotechnics out there.

It's not coming from the craft.

It's coming towards it.

My God, there's something out there.

[screeching]

[rumbling]

It's getting inside.

[panicked breathing]

I've got to abort.

I'm going to re-enter. Switching to manual.

Firing retros.

[heavy breathing]

And that was the last communication

we heard from Aspire 7, on that mission.

Until we regained control, brought you back,

and the drogue chute opened.

It must be very painful to listen to that,

even if it was, what, 38 years ago?

Well, what's painful, Colonel Wayne,

is that after four decades,

I'm still having trouble convincing people

of what happened to me really happened.

Well, God knows you've had enough time to think about

what caused you

to send your craft spinning out of control.

Looking back, what do you think it was?

I know what it wasn't.

It wasn't what NASA said it could possibly be.

It was not oxygen deprivation, it was not space dementia,

I didn't black out,

it was not an epileptic seizure.

I don't have to tell you the data didn't corroborate

your version. Clearly you have some theory.

Something was trying to reach out to me

that day in 1963.

Whether it was a friend or a foe or another world,

I do not know.

And if I had not panicked, I might have found out.

That's why it's important I go back up again.

It's the only way any one of us will ever, ever know.

With all due respect, Colonel Harris,

while we've been charged with selecting

one of the original space program astronauts

for this shuttle flight,

there have been some reservations expressed

about your suitability for this mission.

Well, I'm no spring chicken, I don't claim to be.

But I am in reasonably good health.

I think the Congresswoman

was referring to your mental preparedness.

The record does reflect that you spent a period

of institutionalization after your original flight.

Right. When enough people call you crazy it becomes

a self-fulfilling prophecy.

However, that was past history.

I have submitted here psychological evaluations

along with other briefs.

[Congresswoman] And then, there was, of course,

the incident where you allegedly hacked

into a pentagon computer.

I was only looking at my own files.

In fairness to Colonel Harris, those charges were dismissed.

Thank you.

Uh, one more thing I am curious about.

You indicated this morning

that it is, in your words, "now or never."

Yes, ma'am.

The planetary alignments

during my flight, were virtually the same

as will be in the next scheduled shuttle launch.

They will not be the same for another 24 years,

at which time I'll be dead and buried, or should be.

So, it is now or never.

Uh, well, that should do it. Thank you, Colonel.

The committee should be making its decision shortly.

Please,

I need to know.

We all need to know.

Thank you, Colonel Harris.

Mr. Powers?

How'd it go? They turned him down?

Let's just say, I think, you should make room

in your own space flight for one more passenger.

That's fine.

[Control Voice] There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture.

We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and the vertical.

We can deluge you with a thousand channels

or expand one single image to crystal clarity

and beyond.

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour,

we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery

which reaches from the deepest inner mind

to The Outer Limits.

The burden of solitude is a mighty one.

Be it a lone voice echoing in the dark,

or the cry of humanity in a desolate universe.

[Wayne] I did everything I could. They...

They said your application

will be considered for future flights.

[Ted] Well, talk to them again, will you, Wayne?

Damn it all, you can make them change their mind, can't you?

I'm sorry, Ted.

[knocking]

Yes?

-Who is it? -[man] Colonel Harris?

-Colonel Harris, I wonder if-- -No more interviews.

I'm not a reporter. I represent Carlton Powers,

-Powers Industries. -Yeah, so?

I understand you want to go back into space.

Come on in.

You may know that our aerospace division

has an orbit capable space plane.

Yeah, XR-141. I know.

One million pounds of thrust,

no booster, single stage to orbit--

Scheduled to launch in six months. I know that.

That's what the press thinks.

The truth is we're ready for the inaugural flight right now.

And Mr. Powers has extended

an invitation for you to be aboard.

You're not jerking my chain, are you, friend?

-Excuse me? -You're not jerking me around, are you?

'Cause I haven't got a lot left to lose.

I assure you, this is completely on the up and up.

What do I have to do?

Your tea, Mr. Powers.

Thanks, George, put it there.

I've got to hand it to you, Ted...

You don't mind if I call you "Ted," do you?

-No. -Guys like you,

who squeezed yourself into a tin bucket,

parked your butt on a powder keg

and let them shoot you into the stratosphere

with computers that wouldn't even cut it in the Game Boy,

that took guts.

Not like these hot shots we have nowadays.

Were you a pilot?

Yes, sir.

Best years of my life.

Matter of fact, some days I'd give up all this

just to hit Mach 3 in a Blackbird.

You know, I'm going to co-pilot

the maiden flight of the Daedalus.

But don't worry.

The damn thing is so automated

that you can't leave the head with your zipper down.

[laughing]

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth,

but why'd you pick me, Mr. Powers?

You're the real deal, Ted.

A Mercury Astronaut.

I'm billing you as a host lecturer.

I'm not going to lie to you,

this flight is going to make

the privatization of space a reality.

And I learned, long ago, the value of promotion.

Look at the hoopla surrounding the Glenn flight.

Two of my passengers had their names drawn out of a hat.

Won a contest. [chuckles]

Hell, I'm even taking a reporter along for the ride.

And I'm part of this circus?

The fact that you were snubbed by the shuttle committee,

and the controversy surrounding your original mission,

you can't buy publicity like that.

You know what they say about me, right?

No worse than they say about me.

Just a lot of damned fools shooting their mouths off.

I stopped listening to them years ago.

I have a feeling you did the same thing.

And you're willing to launch around my time window, are you?

The bird's ready, you're ready,

I'm ready.

Hell, yes.

What do you say we break out

something stronger and make it official?

[groans]

No! No.

No, no, no!

No, no!

[yelling]

No.

[yelling]

[gasping]

Let's face it, Wayne, I was the pariah

of the Mercury program.

The black stain of the project.

Nobody wanted to talk to me after I came back.

And I don't blame them.

Well, I suppose, by implication, that includes me.

No, you were doing your best you could for the mission.

Besides, you were the only one who came to see me

when I was in the rubber room, except for my wife.

Well, how is Madelaine?

You two see one another anymore?

Oh, I've seen her a couple of times

since she's gone back to Maryland.

[sighing] Well.

No, go ahead.

Well, I didn't ask you out just to congratulate you, Ted.

I have something to get off my chest.

That experience that... [sighing]

That you went through in '63...

What I mean is,

you weren't the only one

to go through something they couldn't explain.

What are you talking about?

Well, I'm not talking the whole nine yards.

Not everything that you saw, but...

[sighs]

I was on my sixth orbit,

just coming up over the Sub Sahara.

And I saw lights

outside the capsule.

And at first I thought it was the straps

burning off the retro-pack.

But, it wasn't.

You didn't say anything.

And you could have changed everything.

I know, and God knows it's been weighing on me

all these years.

-[man] Hey, buddy. -It's okay, it's okay.

It's okay.

-Listen, Ted. -You son of a bitch.

I understand.

But the truth is that I was afraid for my career.

I was afraid that I wouldn't

get the chance to suit up again.

Why'd you decide to tell me now?

[sighs]

I think it's important that you know

that somebody else understands

this overpowering urge you have to go back out there.

There's somebody else who needs some answers.

My God, you cut your hand.

Get out of here!

-There he is. Hey, Mr. Powers! -There he is.

Is this true that you are trying to show NASA up

by heading into space before the shuttle flight

that Colonel Harris had hoped to be on?

NASA has got the resources

of the entire United States government behind it.

I'm just a lowly entrepreneur

trying to advance the cause of science.

Some of his former colleagues

are claiming that he's delusional,

even deranged. Does this concern you?

[chuckling] If I had a dollar for every insult hurled at me,

I'd be a richer man than I am today.

No, sir, it does not concern me.

Colonel Harris is a man with a mission. So am I.

[clamoring]

[woman] With all the embracement of cubism,

and his fierce rivalry with Picasso,

one would expect even more vigor

in his painting.

But the surprise is,

there is a serenity to this work

that's fairly atypical

for this stage in the artist's life.

Excuse me.

I'll catch up with you in a moment.

Ted.

Madelaine, I'm sorry to--

-What are you doing here? -I'm sorry to disturb you,

but it's-- it's kind of important.

Still doing your volunteer work, huh?

One wants to feel useful.

Yeah.

I guess you heard about my flight.

I've already been approached by the reporters.

Can't say it brings back fond memories.

I know what you mean.

I didn't sleep half the night thinking about

what we had and what we lost.

-I can't do this. -No. Don't get me wrong.

I've given up trying to rehash

what we went through.

-What I put you through. -No tears for me, Ted.

I was just another bystander.

You were a one-man train wreck.

Remember this?

You gave it to me. You had some kind of premonition,

things wouldn't go right.

What is it you want, Ted?

To be just not alone.

Madelaine, I've been in that damn angry room of mine

over 30 years,

and this is a chance to break out.

This is a chance to-- to find some answers.

You're going to drive yourself crazy all over again.

All that anguish, confusion,

it's all part of the past. It's over.

Like us.

You act as if this happened yesterday.

It was more than 30 years ago.

People change.

I've changed.

I've got to go, Ted.

Godspeed.

As I told you in the first pre-flight briefing,

your variable tension magnetic boots will hold you

on the deck when we're at zero Gs.

So, you'll have to forgive me

for any discomfort you might feel.

These God-awful unisex outfits I find painful.

Considering what I paid for this ticket, I think,

you could have popped for a designer.

[laughing] Well, you'll have to forego

the high fashion for a couple of days, Lil.

Now, then,

you all have your own private sleeping quarters,

but if you're anything like me,

you won't be spending much time in the sack.

Our newlyweds might have a different idea.

[Carlton] Once we're in orbit,

we'll be doing 31 laps around the big marble.

We'll be logging approximately

three quarters of a million miles

at an average orbital altitude of 136 miles.

I believe that's about 30 miles short

of your apogee on the Mercury.

Right. I was wondering if we couldn't go

to a slightly higher orbit?

The flight plan is pretty tight.

We haven't even zeroed out the risk factors,

so we'd like to stick with the program.

I'll start the pre-flight checks, Mr. Powers.

What's the reason you want the higher orbit, Colonel Harris?

Oh, I'd just like to visit the old neighborhood, you know?

Just call me a sentimental fool, I guess.

Well, I wouldn't be the first, now, would I?

[scoffs] No offense intended.

Mr. Reese is covering our trip for The National Scope.

In other words, you're paid to be contentious.

What can I say? Rotting minds want to know.

[Sullivan over PA] I suggest we strap in, Mr. Powers.

Launch window begins at 0900.

Well, see you folks in space.

Lock and load.

-What? -Put your belt on.

You're not scared, are you?

Relax.

Do you think a guy like Carlton Powers

would be going up with us if there was any real danger?

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Nice, deep breaths.

You'll be fine, I promise.

I just keep thinking

about that young teacher on Challenger.

We're light years ahead of that technology.

-Don't worry. -Okay.

[control center] Roger, Daedalus,

we read primary fuel tank at 100 percent.

You're a go for weather down range.

Fuel cell check complete.

Thruster gyros are 508.

All engines ready to fire.

This is Denver Control, check list complete.

Daedalus, you're still go.

T-minus 2 minutes and counting.

Tell me you love me, Ty.

Of course, I love you.

You and me have got to be

the luckiest couple in the whole world.

You really mean that?

You know how many people must have entered that contest?

A free trip into space?

What are the odds?

[anchorwoman] We are just moments away

from a whole new era in private space flight.

[control center] T-minus one minute and counting.

[anchorwoman] We're told there may be as many as

twelve flights over the next three years.

[control center] T-minus 30 seconds and counting.

Pulitzer prize minus six months and counting.

[control center] T-minus ten,

-nine, eight... -[engine roaring]

Seven, six,

five, four,

three, two, one, ignition.

[man] Aspire, this is Houston, you're looking good.

Altitude, 36 miles.

Daedalus, you are now at maximum thrust.

You should reach escape velocity

in one minute, 44 seconds.

[anchorwoman] All systems seem to be

performing perfectly.

[control center] And we have a successful launch

of the maiden flight of the Power Industries'

reusable space plane, The Daedalus.

[Carlton] Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to weightlessness.

You're free to move about the cabin

as long as you keep your boots on.

I'm back.

Dear God,

I'm back.

[Lil] It's more beautiful

than I ever could have imagined.

Pictures will never do it justice.

[Martin] Is it just me,

or have all the sci-fi movies I've seen made me feel

like I've been there, done that?

I get the feeling, Martin,

the first words you ever spoke were "ho-hum."

I wouldn't dare share this with my readers,

but, entre nous,

this isn't outer space, not really.

It's a high altitude Concorde without the flight attendant.

Fortunately, i, uh, brought my own.

Customized for the occasion.

Not that I'd want to dampen anyone's religious experience.

Despair is the scourge of little minds.

Who said that?

I believe I just did.

[chuckles]

Well, it beats the hell out of Puerto Vallarta, doesn't it?

Oh, man, the guys in the office

are never going to get over this.

[Barbara] It's... It's humbling.

Well, you can't help but feel so small.

Yeah, I guess.

Congratulations, friends.

We've all just made history.

Space is no longer the province just of big government,

or the chosen elite.

And I guess that's a good thing?

Are you kidding?

NASA sends a shuttle into space,

comes back minus 40 million dollars worth of boosters.

Private enterprise tries its hand,

comes back with a fully reusable craft.

Now, you tell me who's got better technology.

I'll reserve judgment till we're back on terra firma.

Well, it's still a matter of priorities.

I mean, say what you will about NASA,

and I've had my differences,

their basic desire is still to discover, to explore,

and to uncloak the mysteries of space.

Oh, come on, Ted.

They're not about uncovering black holes,

they are the black hole.

I'll put my R and D people

up against government scientists anytime, anywhere.

Well, you're both making the same assumption.

Uh-huh, what's that?

That ultimately science will provide all the answers.

What do you mean, Lil?

Well, take a look out there.

It's a big universe.

It's beyond arrogance

to believe all of this is quantifiable.

That every secret will yield

to the prodding and pushing of eggheads

who wouldn't know a miracle if it bit them on the asteroid.

Pretty heavy stuff for a woman who made her fortune selling cosmetics.

Unless you're talking about the divinity of miracle cream.

Give it a rest, Martin.

[laughs]

Hey, come on.

I want to show you something.

-What? -Come on.

What is it, Ty?

Oh, nothing, really.

I just found all that talk kind of boring.

I was enjoying it.

-Really? -Mmm-hmm.

[chuckles]

I can think of something else you'd enjoy even more.

Ty, this really isn't the time.

Why not?

No one's going to come in here.

It's time

to join

the ultimate...

Mile-high club.

[breathing heavily]

[Carlton] See that squall down there?

Right over the Cape of Good Hope.

Talk about your ultimate weather map.

[Ted] Yeah, we had to fight like hell for a window

in the Mercury capsule.

There were those in the agency that felt

that astronauts were merely backup.

Well, maybe we are now.

This automatic pilot

will initiate re-entry procedure,

even land the bird if it has to.

-What was that? -What?

Over there. I thought I saw a flicker of light.

Probably just a reflection off the glass.

Yeah.

[Sullivan] Getting just enough drift for an attitude correction.

Going manual.

Roll right 3.8 degrees.

Right yaw thrust,

two seconds.

[Carlton] Nice.

Smooth as the small of a woman's back.

[Sullivan] Ending manual control.

Returning to computer flight program.

[Ted] I remember the night

I was selected for the rookie program like yesterday.

I had a million things on my mind.

Who would be the first to go up?

If it was me, how would I react?

How would it change my life?

What would I say to the reporters?

And then I walked over to my car, and I stopped, I didn't get in.

I looked up, and all of a sudden

I saw a bushel of stars.

And I then knew that it was not a space race,

it was not about politics,

and science and technology. It was really all about...

All about us.

All about us reaching up,

touching God.

That's pretty corny.

Are you a religious man, Colonel Harris?

Not until then, no.

[Barbara] What about when you went up?

Do you feel like it happened?

Did you touch God?

It was close.

As in close encounter?

You "Saw the light," I seem to remember.

It was in all my reports, yeah.

Of course, you left off the attribution to mother goose.

Martin!

Just trying to pin our esteemed friend down.

It was pretty muddled

in the official debriefings I read.

It was not a hallucination.

NASA's psychological evaluations say otherwise.

[Lil] I've been called everything

from a "nut-case" to a "cosmic groupie."

Usually by people terrified that their cozy little worlds

might not be so cozy after all.

One small step for bi-polar disorders.

You have all the tact of a charging rhino.

[door opens]

[over intercom] Ted, it's Lil.

[beeps]

May I come in?

I wouldn't let that slime bucket Martin

get to you.

You know, some people believe that the whole human race

was seeded millions of years ago

by visitors out there,

just waiting patiently for us to mature

before they contact us.

Ted,

tell me what you saw back then.

Lights.

Beautiful violet lights.

Where were they coming from?

Everywhere and nowhere. I don't know.

[Lil] What do you think it was?

I don't know. They were growing.

-They were changing. -Into what?

I don't know. They... They were alive, they...

Go ahead, Ted.

You're seeing it right now, aren't you?

No.

No!

[rumbling]

[thuds]

What was that?

What the hell is going on?

I don't know.

We just rotated 90 degrees

and fired all the aft thrusters.

-Take it out of auto. -I'm trying.

The computer,

it won't let me override.

What's that?

We're heading away from Earth. That's for sure.

[Carlton] How could something like this happen?

[Sullivan] Wait a minute, the thrusters are ramping down on their own.

We're rolling into Earth orbit again.

[control center] Reconfirm, Daedalus,

you're in trajectory to level into Earth orbit at 166 miles?

You still can't break through, Denver?

[control center] We've tried everything.

Your auto pilot has got us in a lock out.

What about rebooting the nav computer?

We've done it twice. It doesn't have any effect.

You think it could be a virus?

[control center] Nothing we read here.

Keep trying, Daedalus.

I don't get it. This is not the orbit we programmed in.

Not the orbit we thought we programmed in, anyways.

Are you saying this is not a malfunction?

Whatever is overriding the flight is following

strict navigational protocols.

What do we tell the passengers?

No reason to panic them.

Not yet, anyway.

Has anybody noticed that we're a lot higher

than we were before?

Oh, I sure as hell am.

We're on a wider orbit.

Did you persuade the pilot

to match your altitude on Mercury?

It did it on its own.

So,

this is what it was like back in '63?

Less room.

[Martin] Well, if you spot any space spooks do let me know.

You don't know when to quit, do you, Martin?

No, I've never been much of a quitter.

I've always been good at recognizing them though.

Losers, too.

Recognize this, bucko.

The only reason you cut people up

with that slippery, sly tongue of yours

is because you're afraid.

You've lost hope, noble scrivener.

You're afraid that what might be out there is out there.

Well, I've got to you something,

I saw it. It is.

We've established that.

I saw something that no man was supposed to see.

Like Dorothy pulling back the curtain on the Wizard.

Yeah, right.

So, now we're supposed to follow the yellow brick road?

[Ted yelling] Don't treat her like that!

Don't treat her like some hollow, plastic doll!

And don't mistake her compliance

for weakness or stupidity.

Treat her with respect!

[exhales]

What is it?

I feel dizzy.

[Lil] It is getting stuffy in here.

[Sullivan] Oxygen levels are dropping.

Can you crank them up?

Nothing.

[Lil over intercom] Mr. Powers,

please, we need your help.

Be right there.

There's not enough air in here.

Get me the emergency O2.

Give her some room.

[Ty] Come on, honey.

Breathe.

Oh, good, she's coming around.

Where's Colonel Harris?

[straining]

-It's locked. -How could it be locked?

Colonel Harris?

Ted!

[over intercom] Ted, are you there?

Ted, talk to me. Open the hatch.

Ted, I need to talk to you now.

-You don't have to do this. -Yes.

-Yes! -Yes! -[Carlton] Whatever it is you want to do

We can talk about it, just open the hatch.

Damn.

Are we rolling?

We sure as hell are.

[Carlton] Lil, you try.

166 miles orbit. Remember that figure?

Exactly Aspire 7's apogee.

Now we know what took over the autopilot.

[sarcastically] Oh, this is beautiful!

You invite a lunatic on to a space flight

and now he's flying the damn plane?

[Lil] Ted, can you hear me?

You've got to open up.

Yeah, we're almost... Almost there.

Almost where?

[Carlton] Bypass the lock.

Try the redundant system.

[beeping]

[door opens]

No, no, no, no! We're almost there.

-No, no, no. -[gun injects]

[groans]

I got him.

-My God. -[Carlton] What?

The navigation program.

He must have substituted his own.

That's why the reboots did no good.

Get that disk back in the nav system

and get it booted up now.

[Sullivan] I just hope we're not too late.

Sir,

if anybody is hurt by your irresponsible behavior,

I guarantee I'll prosecute you to hell and back.

Once we get the proper program on line,

everything is going to be okay.

[Martin] We're all going to die, aren't we?

Nobody is going to die!

[exhales]

What's happening, Ty?

This is insane.

We never should have gone for something like this.

I should have trusted my instincts.

I would have been happy on a beach in Mexico.

What about what I wanted?

Or doesn't that count?

Pumping oxygen to all cabins.

You know we were only a couple of minutes

from his destination, whatever the hell that was.

I wonder what he's hoping to find.

The man is pathological.

You're not suggesting we hang around to find out?

No.

The attitude control fuel is at 20 percent.

No, we can't afford to take the risk.

Let's turn this baby around.

Firing right yaw thrust.

On my count.

Three, two,

one.

They're dropping down to a lower orbit.

This is my last chance.

Lil, if there is any part of you

that believes in the truth of what I am saying,

you've got to help me.

I don't know what I believe in anymore.

You've got to help me. Cut me loose.

You've got to help me.

Please, help me!

We are back in the driver's seat, Denver.

[control center] You're go for primary coordinates.

Amen.

[beeping]

What is it?

[Sullivan] Somebody just entered the air lock.

Where is Harris?

Patch me through to the air lock.

[over intercom] Ted, I know you're upset.

Please, don't do anything rash.

No one needs to know what happened up here.

I'll stand by you, I swear.

[airlock opens]

My God.

There's no tether.

He came all the way up here to kill himself.

Oh, my God.

Major Sullivan,

patch Colonel Harris into the main cabin.

[Ted] Daedalus... Daedalus, do you read?

We hear you, Colonel.

This was my choice.

I'll never have the chance again.

[Sullivan] Hang in there, I'm coming to get you.

[Ted] No.

Look at your thruster fuel. You can't risk it.

Ted?

Can you hear me?

Yes.

You've got to come back.

[Ted] It's all right. You did the right thing.

Tell Madelaine that...

That I love her,

that I never stopped loving her.

Will you do that for me, Lil?

I promise.

I'm not alone.

For the first time,

I'm not alone.

I know that doesn't make any sense.

But I'm sure of it.

He's becoming delirious.

Oxygen deprivation.

Oh, my God.

They've come back!

They were waiting for me all the time!

[Lil] What's that?

[Ted] We have nothing to fear from them.

I have nothing to fear from them.

It's amazing.

It's wonderful.

[Martin] They're all around him, everywhere.

I understand.

I understand.

Understand what?

Ted, we want to know.

We need to know.

[Ted] They were only sent to watch.

They never meant to interfere.

It's a gift.

They're giving me a chance.

Another chance.

[screeching]

Welcome home, Colonel Harris.

I'm alive.

Of course, you're alive.

It was a perfect flight.

Now, you just take it easy,

we're going to get you out of there, okay?

What's the date?

-It's September 16th. -No, the year.

What year is it?

It's 1963.

What did you expect?

I'm sure it felt like forever,

but it's only been a day and a half.

Madelaine, my wife?

She's waiting for you on the carrier, sir.

Beautiful woman, your wife.

You're a lucky man.

Yes, I know.

I finally know.

[Control Voice] Our lives are defined by our choices,

paths taken, worlds explored.

But once we commit,

we can never go back and choose again.

Or can we?