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 the 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, tips off 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.