A communication satellite takes shape inside Astrium's factory in Stevenage, England, starting with a carbon-fibre skeleton that will carry fuel tanks and engines into orbit. Cameras follow the build step by step, from that inner frame through to the electronics, filmed in cleanrooms kept more sterile than a hospital operating theatre because the finished machine has to run unattended for a minimum of fifteen years, guaranteed. At Astrium's Portsmouth site, technicians assemble and test the satellite's electronic payload before it travels to France, where solar arrays and antenna dishes are fitted and the whole structure is crated for shipping. The final leg takes it to the launch site in French Guiana, on the northern coast of South America, for a countdown the film treats as the most dangerous moment in the satellite's existence. Told with direct access to the Astrium production line rather than reenactments, the film is essentially a manufacturing procedural, tracking one object through every hand that touches it before it leaves the ground for good.