Stansfield (Robert Lansing) is a thirty-one year old astronaut who accepted a forty-year mission in space. He is to undergo suspended animation so as to not age all those years on returning to earth. Stansfield has no family ties to worry about and thus appears to be right for the job.
Suddenly a young employee of the space center, Sandra (Mariette Hartley) appears on the scene. Stansfield and Sandra see love in the stars from first sight. After three and a half hours together they are so deeply in love that Sandra already feels the sadness of loss due to the impending mission.
Rod Serling's often revisited theme of loneliness and space takes the form of a love story right down to the musical score and the gentle pacing of the dialogue. Both lead actors are good in their roles. Mariette Hartley is very expressive and appealing as love-tingly Sandra making this a pleasant and welcome change of mood from the Zone. However, ladies may shed a tear.
Names tend to recur in Rod Serling's scripts. It's as though Sandra Horn, who is in love with a space pioneer, were a descendant of Christian Horn the pioneer from 'A Hundred Yards Above The Rim'- series two.