Few people in Cocoa Beach, Florida, even knew what a missile was when the United States began its embryonic testing program at the nearby spit of coastline named Cape Canaveral. But before long the excitement surrounding every launch began to infect the entire nation, and the desolate Cape became the focal point for that grandest expression of the American Dream: the manned exploration of outer space. Nancy Yasecko was only a child when her father joined the missile program, fully expecting Cocoa Beach to become a boom town "just like Dayton, Ohio", and her wry eyewitness account of the space race fondly recalls that unique era when science fiction became science fact, when astronauts and their rockets were, more than at anytime since, a part of the fabric of everyday life. The film has plenty of value as nostalgia but, even more important, it provides an invaluable reminder during NASA's post-Challenger nadir of the original adventurous spirit that heralded the space age.