After spending several months in an orbiting lab, three astronauts prepare to return to Earth only to find their de-orbit thrusters won't activate. After initially thinking they might have to abandon them in orbit, NASA decides to launch a daring rescue. Their plans are complicated by a hurricane headed towards the launch site—and a shrinking air supply in the astronauts' capsule.
Colonel Steve Austin, astronaut and test pilot, is badly injured when he crashes while testing an experimental aircraft. A covert government agency (OSI) is willing to pay for special prosthetics to replace the eye, arm and both legs he lost in the crash. Highly advanced technology (bionics) built into them will make him faster, stronger and more resilient than normal. In return they want him to become a covert agent for the OSI. It will cost $6,000,000 to rebuild Steve Austin.
Ten years after his retirement from the government, Colonel Steve Austin must again team up with Jaime Sommers to stop a terrorist group. Complicating matters for Austin are his estranged son Michael, who struggles for his father's acceptance as he graduates from flight school, and Jaime, who must cope with her and Steve's past. When Michael is severely injured in a crash, Steve must make the same decision about fitting him with bionics that he had to make with Jaime years ago after her accident.
