Fly 2024

In late 1968, Manhattan advertising executive Kelly Jones is offered a high-stakes job by Moe Berkus, a covert government operative working for President Richard Nixon. He tasks her with revitalizing NASA’s public image midst waning interest in the Space Race. Under threat of being exposed for her deceptive past, Kelly reluctantly agrees and moves to Cocoa Beach, Florida, with her loyal assistant, Ruby.

Upon arriving, Kelly encounters Cole Davis, the serious and principled launch director at the Kennedy Space Center. They immediately clash over Kelly’s unconventional methods to boost NASA’s public appeal, including corporate sponsorship’s and hiring actors to portray scientists. Despite their differences, they begin to develop a mutual respect and attraction.

As NASA prepares for the historic Apollo 11 mission, Kelly suggests broadcasting the moon landing using a television camera on the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), a proposal Cole dismisses as impractical. However, Moe secretly endorses the idea and reveals an additional, shadowy directive to Kelly: she must prepare a fake moon landing to be aired if the real mission fails, a project code-named “Artemis”.

Moe pressures Kelly into creating this falsification by threatening to expose her less-than-honest past, as she has skillfully reinvented herself. Being skilled at her job, she arranges that a very talented but virtually unknown director come on board. Finding the most isolated airplane hangar on the base, it is heavily guarded. Everyone involved is sworn into secrecy.

Kelly becomes increasingly uneasy with the deception, especially as she and Cole grow closer. When a key congressional supporter withdraws, jeopardizing NASA’s funding, Cole and Kelly team up to win back his vote, ultimately succeeding through Cole’s heartfelt appeal to a skeptical senator.

Their partnership blossoms into a romantic relationship. As the Apollo 11 launch nears, Kelly discovers that the fake broadcast is set to air, regardless of the mission’s outcome, due to a sabotage of the LEM camera. Overcome with guilt, she confesses everything to Cole, and together, they manage to repair the camera just in time.

During the live broadcast, it is unclear whether audiences are watching the real moon landing or the fake. A stray cat wandering onto the set confirms that the real footage is being transmitted, and the mission is celebrated as a success.

In the end, Moe begrudgingly accepts that the truth prevailed, allowing Kelly to leave her past behind. She reveals her real name, Winnie, to Cole, and they rekindle their romance as the Apollo 11 astronauts safely return to Earth.