The mission was a sham. The murders were real.

The world watches as the first manned space flight to Mars blasts off with a crew destined to walk on the surface of the red planet, but the crew is not on board. They have been secretly and forcible escorted to a desert hangar to act out the mission as though they were on the shuttle. The reason for the cover up? NASA made a mistake too costly to reveal and now must cover it up or risk national embarrassment.

The mission continues as planned until a NASA technician discovers a discrepancy in a computer read-out. Receiving no co-operation from his supervisors, he casually mentions it to a reporter friend who is intrigued by the idea of a government cover up and decides to investigate. With the shuttle disintegrating on re-entry, the world believes all inside have perished. The astronauts realise they are now a threat to national security and escape hoping that one of them live long enough to expose the fraud.