In the year 2065, Earths natural resources have been ravaged. A small two-manned space-craft has been given the mission to gather samples on a possibly inhabitable alternative to earth; Atlas 29D. The two astronauts are left stranded in space once their communication with Earth fails. Now, Atlas 3 has been launched. They’ve just picked up the samples and they are on their way home, when they pick up Atlas 1’s signal. Rocket Man tells the story of Scout Kepler; one of the two lost astronauts of the Atlas 1. In the words of Elton John, he’s a “Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone”. We see clips of his log footage, mainly consisting of him talking to himself and pretending to host a radio-show, ironically, to stop himself from going crazy. We begin with Scout. We are introduced to him when he is already marooned in space, strung out in heavens high, hitting an all time low, talking to himself and slowly, steadily, going off the rails. We are then introduced to the crew of the Atlas 3: Jones and Tomkins. We are initially presented with the radio communication between Ground Control and Jones as she asks permission to investigate the Atlas 1. Throughout the film, we follow Scout, on his journey through loneliness, futility and eventually a kind of nirvana. However, simultaneously we are presented with Jones and Tomkins; the crew of the Atlas 3, as they discover the Atlas 1 and finally go inside and find Scout. It is only revealed at the end of the film, that these ship logs that we have been watching, from the Atlas 1, are simply footage found by Tomkins, on the abandoned spacecraft. When Tomkins reaches Scout, he has been dead for three days.