| Sam Shepard | Chuck Yeager |
| Ed Harris | John Glenn |
| Fred Ward | Gus Grissom |
| Barbara Hershey | Glennis Yeager |
| Kim Stanley | Pancho Barnes |
| Scott Glenn | Alan Shepard |
| Kim Stanley | Pancho Barnes |
| Pamela Reed | Trudy Cooper |
| Charles Frank | Scott Carpenter |
| Donald Moffat | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Mary Jo Deschanel | Annie Glenn |
| Kathy Baker | Louise Shepard |
| Susan Kase | Rene Carpenter |
| Royal Dano | Minister |
| Jim Haynie | Air Force Major |
| Harry Shearer | Recruiter |
| Jane Dornacker | Nurse Murch |
| John P. Ryan | Head of Program |
| Eric Sevareid | Eric Sevareid |
| Drew Letchworth | The Permanent Press Corps |
| Richard Dupell | The Permanent Press Corps |
| John X. Heart | The Permanent Press Corps |
| Jack Bruno Tate | The Permanent Press Corps |
| Mary Apick | Woman Reporter |
| Erik Bergmann | Eddie Hodges |
| Katherine Conklin | Woman TV Reporter |
| Tom Dahlgren | Bell Aircraft Executive |
| Peggy Davis | Sally Rand |
| Robert Elross | Review Board President |
| Robert J. Geary | Game Show M.C. |
| David Gulpilil | Aborigine |
| Kaaren Lee | Young Widow |
| Frankie Di | Cocoa Beach Girl |
| Ed Corbett | Texan |
| Mark Todd | Astronaut Trainee |
| Chuck Yeager | Fred |
| Bill Dana | Jose Jimenez |
| Lyndon Johnson | Himself - Standing Behind JFK |
| Nikita Khrushchev | Himself - Embracing Gagarin |
| James Mathers | Capt. Mills |
| Mimi Sarkisian | New Mexiko Nurse in Lobby |
| Tony Toscano | Reporter |
| Dennis Quaid | Gordon Cooper |
| Veronica Cartwright | Betty Grissom |
| Scott Paulin | Deke Slayton |
| Lance Henriksen | Wally Schirra |
| Levon Helm | Jack Ridley/Narrator |
| Scott Wilson | Scott Crossfield |
| Mickey Crocker | Marge Slayton |
| Mittie Smith | Jo Schirra |
| David Clennon | Liaison Man |
| Jeff Goldblum | Recruiter |
| Scott Beach | Chief Scientist |
| Anthony Munoz | Gonzales |
| Darryl Henriques | Life Reporter |
| William Russ | Slick Goodlin |
| Christopher P. Beale | The Permanent Press Corps |
| William Hall | The Permanent Press Corps |
| Ed Holmes | The Permanent Press Corps |
| Edward Anhalt | Grand Designer |
| Robert Beer | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| James Brady | Aide to Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Maureen Coyne | Waitress |
| John Lion | Bell Aircraft Executive |
| John Dehner | Henry Luce |
| Drew Eschelman | Assistant Scientist |
| Royce Grones | 1st X-1 Pilot |
| Anthony Wallis | Australian Driver |
| Sandy Kronemeyer | Cocoa Beach Girl |
| Michael Pritchard | Texan |
| O-Lan Jones | Girl at Pancho's |
| Allen Gebhardt | Astronaut Trainee |
| Nikolai Bulganin | Himself - Viewing Parade for Gagarin |
| Yuri Gagarin | Himself - Embracing Khrushchev |
| John F. Kennedy | Himself |
| Georgi Malenkov | Himself - Viewing Parade for Gagarin |
| Anastas Mikoyan | Himself - Viewing Parade for Gagarin |
| Ed Sullivan | Himself |
| Kliment Voroshilov | Himself - Viewing Parade for Gagarin |
