 Because of a foolish attempt to land on the Moon in a stolen rocket which caused him to be trapped and the subsequent death of one of his rescuers, he is ostracized by the space community.When given a final chance to show he has grown up, he questions his motives and wonders if he can escape his past.Fred Halpern, a young man (presumably high-school age) training at the Goddard Space Academy is expelled a week before graduation due to his long history of insubordination and arrogance, despite his top-rate piloting skills and uncanny ability to accurately figure trajectories and orbits in his head.