In the 1950s and early '60s, a small band of high-altitude pioneers exposed themselves to the extreme forces of the space age long before NASA's acclaimed Mercury 7 would make headlines. Though largely forgotten today, balloonists were the first to venture into the frozen near-vacuum on the edge of our world, exploring the very limits of human physiology and human ingenuity in this lethal realm.
Michael Murphy
as Narrator
Burkhard Bilger
as Self
Scott Carpenter
as Self (archive footage)
Francis French
as Self
John Glenn
as Self (archive footage)
Cooper Gordon
as Self
Gus Grissom
as Self (archive footage)
Wally Schirra
as Self (archive footage)
Alan Shepard
as Self (archive footage)
John Paul Stapp
as Self (archival footage)
Dana Kilanowski
as Self
David Simons
as Self (archive footage)
