Alternate Timeline Compared To Real Space History
For All Mankind imagines how things might have turned out differently if the space race never ended. Here's where fact meets fiction in the series.
In For All Mankind, the show's alternate timeline turns space history on its head, imagining how things might have turned out differently today if the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States had never ended. The popular Apple TV+ series created by Ronald D. Moore premiered in 2019, and in December 2020, ahead of the season 2 premiere in February 2021, the show was renewed for a third season.
Reimaging the past, For All Mankind follows a group of fictional astronauts, lead by NASA Commander Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman), and their families, alongside historical figures like fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, US Senator and presidential hopeful Ted Kennedy, and President Richard Nixon. In For All Mankind season 1, the show replaces the real-life American astronauts from NASA's Apollo 10 mission with fictional characters. In the series, Ed Baldwin leads Apollo 10, joined by Gordo Stevens (Michael Dorman) and a third member by the name of Talmadge. The actual mission crew members were astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan.
Aside from the crew members, many of the details of the show's Apollo 10 mission remain historically accurate. Launching in May of 1969, Apollo 10 was the fourth crewed mission and the second to orbit the Moon. Like the mission portrayed in the series, NASA considered Apollo 10 to be a dress rehearsal for the first Moon landing. And the mission's call signs really were named after the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy like they are in the series. Throughout the series, For All Mankind continues to portray historical events involving real-life space exploration over the decades interwoven with its fictional narrative. While the show becomes less grounded in reality as the episodes progress, especially moving into Season 2, For All Mankind continues to be influenced by space history. Here are all the major space missions inspired by real history that take place in For All Mankind’s alternative timeline following the Apollo 10 mission.
June 1969 - Soviet Moon Landing & Apollo 11
In For All Mankind, NASA loses the space race when the Soviets’s put the first man on the moon. In the show’s alternative history timeline, Alexei Leonov becomes the first human to land on the moon on June 26, 1969. One month later, the Apollo 11 mission is the first US mission to make it to the moon. And the show’s Apollo 11 includes the same scientists as the real-life mission. As a result of the Soviet moon landing in the show, US Senator, Ted Kennedy returns to D.C. for an emergency hearing and cancels his trip to Chappaquiddick Island, altering the course of history. Without the real-life tragedy at Chappaquiddick and subsequent scandal, in the show’s alternate timeline Kennedy is compelled to later run against Nixon during his reelection campaign.
In reality, the Soviets were the first to put a man in space, but not on the moon. Thanks to chief rocket designer and spacecraft engineer, Sergei Korolev, who helped design the rocket that launched Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961. But the Soviet program suffered a big blow after the sudden death of Korolev in 1966. Under President John F. Kennedy, American lunar exploration efforts intensified in the early 1960s. And in the end, the real-life Apollo 11 astronauts — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins — were the first people to step foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. They left behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plague, which read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” According to NASA, in a post-flight press conference, Armstrong called the flight "a beginning of a new age," and Collin talked about future missions to Mars. Russia also celebrated the American’s success according to Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who later wrote about the event according to History Today: “Everyone forgot that we were all citizens of different countries on Earth. That moment really united the human race.”
September 1969 - The Mercury 13 & First Woman On The Moon
For All Mankind imagines the first woman landing on the moon. On September 16, 1969, Anastasia Belikova becomes the first woman on the moon as part of the Soviet’s second lunar mission. In the show, Belikova garners international acclaim and becomes known as the “Russian Meteor Maid” by many American newspapers. In the show's alternative timeline, the Soviets have once again beat the Americans, catching them by surprise by launching a woman into space and landing her on the moon. As a result, Nixon instructs NASA to put together a crew of female astronauts. The Mercury program recruits and establishes an all-female crew of astronauts including Molly Cobb, Dani Poole, Tracy Stevens, and Ellen Wilson who become prominent characters throughout the series.
For All Mankind's fictional space program is based in part on the real-life Mercury 13, a privately funded space program that recruited female astronauts. In 1959, the thirteen women recruited to the program successfully completed the same tests as the male astronauts in NASA’s Mercury 7 group. According to series creator Ronald D. Moore, the Mercury 13 program was the original inspiration for the show's premise. “That (Mercury) program got canceled before they ever actually took flight training,” Moore told Variety. “So part of our premise was to go back and revisit who were the Mercury 13 and where would they be.” For All Mankind takes a look at what it might have been like for these women had they had the chance to actually participate in NASA’s space program of the time. In reality, only 12 people — all of them men — have ever walked on the moon. All of these missions were part of the US Apollo program and took place between 1969 and 1972. To date, no women have ever walked on the moon - although, in 1963, the Soviet Union did send the first female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova, into space.
1971 - Apollo 15 & First US Woman On The Moon
The show more or less skips over the famous Apollo 13 flight, which doesn’t experience an explosion in the For all Mankind’s alternative history timeline. In the show’s timeline, NASA presents the first all-female astronaut group in 1970. As a result, Molly Cobb also replaces Gordo Stevens for the Apollo 15 mission. In October of 1971, Molly becomes the first American woman to make it to the moon. In November of 1971, according to the show’s timeline, Ted Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon by a wide margin and becomes the 38th President of the United States. In the Show’s timeline, Kennedy is sworn into office in 1972. This also means that Watergate never happens in the show’s alternative history.
There were no female astronauts on the real Apollo 15, which was the fourth US mission to land on the moon. The mission accomplished its goals but received negative publicity after bringing unauthorized postal covers. The real Apollo 15 crewmembers, Commander David Scott, James Irwin, and Hadley Rille, never flew to space again. Molly Cobb’s character is inspired by real-life Mercury 13 participant, Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb. Jerrie Cobb was the first woman to pass all of the same preflight tests as NASA’s Mercury 7 male astronauts. Had NASA accepted female astronaut candidates in the '60s, Jerrie Cobb would likely have become the first, but the agency did not allow women into the program until 1978. In reality, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. For All Mankind pays tribute to the female astronaut in season 2, when her namesake character joins Captain Ed Baldwin's crew on the Pathfinder mission.
1973 - Apollo 20 & Jamestown Lunar Base
In For All Mankind, the Apple TV+ show portrays a world where NASA’s space program continues to thrive, and the Apollo Missions are a top priority for America throughout the 1980s. In the series, Ed Baldwin, Dani Poole, and Gordo Stevens set out on Apollo 20, a mission to establish the American lunar base, Jamestown on the moon’s surface.
In reality, Apollo's goals did go beyond landing Americans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth. NASA dreamed of establishing technology and the capacity to work in the lunar environment, but that never happened. Instead, the program was eventually canceled. The real-life Apollo Program only lasted from 1963-1975. And the last moon landing took place in 1972. Apollo 17 was the last mission to land on the moon. According to NASA, the final American lunar mission was distinguished from previous Apollo flights by its “extended hardware capability, larger scientific payload capacity, and the use of the battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle.” Eugene “Gene” Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, left these last words on the moon: "We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind.”
1983 - The Apollo-Soyuz Mission
In For All Mankind season 2, the space race continues as the show picks up where season 1 left off in the 1980s, but the alternative timeline takes over here. While there are real elements pulled from the actual space program, like the Skylab, since the space race had more or less ended by this time in history, the show begins to diverge more into its fictional timeline. Though a few real-life elements do remain, most of them are altered to fit into the show’s alternative history. In real life, Ronald Reagan is elected president in 1980, but in the show’s timeline, he’s already been president for four years by then, having won the 1976 election and narrowly beating incumbent candidate Ted Kennedy.
In the show’s reality, by 1983 the Jamestown base is thriving, and the Soviets have also established their own lunar base near Jamestown. In the series, the space race never ends, and it continues to be the main point of conflict in the Cold War between the US and the Soviets. The Apollo-Soyuz mission (Apollo 75) in For All Mankind season 2 is also based on a real-life mission. In the show's narrative, the mission takes place in the 80s, but in reality, the symbolic handshake happened in 1975. On July 17, 1975, the world watched the historical event unfold on television as astronaut Thomas Stafford and cosmonaut Alexey A. Leonov shook hands in space.
1995 - Mars Landing
Due to the time jump in For All Mankind season 2, one thing that doesn’t get shown is the tragic Challenger mission of 1986. In the show, the mission never happens, at least as far as we from what is portrayed in season 2. Instead, the show skips ahead to the '90s in the season finale. The final scene in For All Mankind season 2 depicts a space boot stepping foot on Mars. The year is now 1995 and this is where For All Mankind is likely to pick up in season 3. This obviously has yet to happen in real life, but NASA did begin to explore Mars remotely as part of a series of Mars Missions in the early 1990s. To date, no one has stepped foot on Mars, though several countries, including the US, Russia, China, and Japan, as well as the European Union continue to make progress in their explorations of Mars. NASA's historic log lists 45 Mars missions between 1968-2018, which doesn't include those launched in 2020 and several others that are currently in development. For All Mankind season 3 should hopefully reveal how the show's Mars missions will compare, and what sort of progress humans will have made on Mars in the show's alternate reality.
