The men are all gathering in a conference room awaiting Bob and Chris. Bob has made a decision. Chris wonders, who is it?

Bob is announcing the flight order for the first three astronauts.

72 hours earlier, it was fun in the sun.

Convair welcomes the Mercury 7.

Gordo is chatting with the Life reporter. The pressure of life on the world's stage is taking its toll on Gordo, who misses his family.

Gerri Cobb is at the hangar waiting for Trudy, who is going to go up in a plane. Gerri wants to go into space, and she wants Trudy to help.

Gerri thinks that any man who married Trudy would understand why she wants to go up and might be willing to speak on it publicly.

Trudy says that's not what the country wants. Gerri wonders what Trudy wants. Does she want to bake cookies? Then she reveals that she wants Trudy to consider being a part of her all-female astronaut core.

All of the men are getting dressed and primping for their big day.

Alan is still suffering from ringing in the ears. The more stress he's under, the worse it gets.

When they arrive at the hotel, Wally has bad news. One of their own died.

Their host begins talking with Wally, who can't stick the landing after his bad news. Convair says they've had a bad year. They have no idea.

Alan suggests booze and a walk on the beach. John stays behind to hold down the fort but joins them soon afterward.

Wally begins sharing stories about his friend, Ricky. Gus takes the bottle, talking about his little brush with death. They each go around sharing their stories.

When the bottle gets to Jonathan, he dumps his water and fills the glass. He's got a story to tell from his time in Korea.

When his buddy goes down, he circles until he runs out of gas. Running the numbers, he didn't feel close to God. He didn't feel anything. He felt like an animal, just trying to survive.

Scott says that's no the end of the story. He went ono to heroic ends. He says anybody would do that. The others disagree.

John always wanted to be a pilot, but being in the Navy wasn't part of the plan. His father is an Army man and difficult to please. With that, he passes the bottle. Now's not the time.

They all disperse to different ends with Alan staying on the beach.

Gordo wants to get another drink, and John says he's getting water because he doesn't know how they drink like that all the time.

They discuss who they think might be at the top of the fly order. John admits that bringing that guy to the New Year's party has made his star fall a little bit.

Gordo gets a note, and he begins to dismiss himself. John looks down his nose until Gordo admits it's Trudy, who has flown in so they can spend some time together.

John then goes to take his place on stage.

Gordo and Trudy share a kiss and get reacquainted.

Alan knocks on John's door. He made a mistake. He went to Tijuana and drank a lot. He was with a girl at some little hotel, and when they left the hotel, he saw a flash from the camera. The San Diego Herald is running a story on his philandering. It could ruin the program.

John says he'll take care of it. He just wants Alan to calm down. Go to bed and sleep it off. Seems easier said than done.

John tells Alan how much it means to him that he came to him.

John then goes to the phone, working hard to find the person responsible, waking up many to get what he needs.

John gets numbers from Shorty, the PR guy. He wakes Samuel Evans, introduces himself, and begins his story.

Evans says he's running it, while John asks to please reconsider. John says this is a story bigger than either of them or NASA. It's about our country and its values, about whether or not people believe in what they believe in.

John asks Evans to think about the last draft of history, the one that never gets rewritten. Think about what you want that to be. He pleads for his very existence.

The next morning, John scours the paper for the article. He gives the paper to Alan and says he thinks they should gather the guys.

Gordo and Trudy are in heaven. She disturbs their moment by sharing her news.

Gordo thinks she's joking, but she says she wants to do it. He wonders if NASA knows about it. He's not exactly jumping for joy.

He feels sideswiped, and she was hoping he'd be excited for her.

Eventually, he is, and you can tell she's thrilled.

Wally knocks at the door. It's important. Get dressed. Their fun is over.

John is laying down the law. They need to agree how to conduct themselves going forward. John admits he called the publisher and got them to spike the story. Alan begins to play it off a little bit, but John says they need to agree what they have is fragile. What Life Magazine did for them is worth keeping.

Alan says he said thank you, and they can just keep it at that. Deke was ready to pick up the booze, but John said let's just wait. And as he was telling his story, he said he called Short, and Alan begins to fume.

Alan says that the only reason John did it was so that he could sell out Alan to get first position.

John is there for all of them, and he scored the Life deal, too. But Alan finds it annoying. John admits he thinks he's better than all of them. He has saved them all continuously. He just wants them to pull up their pants and act like grown men.

Room service knocks. John ordered burgers for everyone because he thought they might be hungry. The others can't help but smile. Alan can't get over what John did to kick him under the bus and believes they all see it the same.

John's latest misstep with the men really leaves him at odds with the group.

So when they gather, Bob misreads the situation because he doesn't have the full story. He also hasn't picked the man to go.

Bob wants the men to pick who will go. They know each other better than he or Chris ever could, so it's a peer vote, hot on the heels of John's worst performance among them.

Bob's question is if they could not make the flight themselves, who would they see do it instead?

After tallying the votes, Bob burns the slips of paper. Gus is on top. He's the first to go.

The top three are Alan, Gus, and John.