For All Mankind (AH Tv series at Apple TV)

No spoilers because this is just an opinion, but seriously: if you go to the Moon, wouldn't anyone want to try how 1/6g sex works?

Not when your bunk is a Navy surplus bunk and there is no physical way (short of climbing into the airlock) to be out of sight of your colleague.

And not if you want to have any chance of flying another mission.

Besides, all three of them are married, and while that might not stop Gordo, the other two seem a bit more serious about that. They’re not 20-some horndogs. They are mature professionals.

Also, to be completely frank...I really don’t see what difference the lesser gravity will make.

Even micro-G would be kind of irrelevant. If anything, the act would be harder when every thrust sends the two partners flying apart according to Newton’s laws of motion. If anyone IOTL has tried sex in space, they probably ragequit in frustration after the first two hours.
 
I think the 86 days on the moon in this ep would lend credence to Baldwin, Poole and Gordo being Apollo 22 rather than 21. It would mean that at the point of the Apollo 23 Disaster, they had only been on the moon for about two weeks, with a "full tour" from arrival to relief being 3 weeks.

If Baldwin et al are Apollo 21, it would mean that 21, 22 and 23 all launch in the space of a month and Jamestown is abandoned for almost a year.

We did get some clearer looks at the patch in their uniform, but I couldn't make out any numbers, almost like they're avoiding giving us a look so they can reuse the basic design.

Does anyone get the feeling that Gordo being a bit cray cray and hallucinating the red lights is a red herring? Could any other nation (or commercial entity) have managed to launch a moon programme covertly?

A 1960s BBC show called Moonbase 3 postulated American, Chinese, European, Russian and Brazilian bases. Could the lights be a Chinese base?

So the hook leaving the finale would be the reveal that space isn't a two horse race?

But that cliffhanger this week? That's a pretty emotional sucker punch for Karen.
 
I think the 86 days on the moon in this ep would lend credence to Baldwin, Poole and Gordo being Apollo 22 rather than 21. It would mean that at the point of the Apollo 23 Disaster, they had only been on the moon for about two weeks, with a "full tour" from arrival to relief being 3 weeks.

If Baldwin et al are Apollo 21, it would mean that 21, 22 and 23 all launch in the space of a month and Jamestown is abandoned for almost a year.

We did get some clearer looks at the patch in their uniform, but I couldn't make out any numbers, almost like they're avoiding giving us a look so they can reuse the basic design.

Does anyone get the feeling that Gordo being a bit cray cray and hallucinating the red lights is a red herring? Could any other nation (or commercial entity) have managed to launch a moon programme covertly?

A 1960s BBC show called Moonbase 3 postulated American, Chinese, European, Russian and Brazilian bases. Could the lights be a Chinese base?

So the hook leaving the finale would be the reveal that space isn't a two horse race?

But that cliffhanger this week? That's a pretty emotional sucker punch for Karen.
I don't think there are other powers, not this early in the space race. Plus, that requires building a deep space network on Earth, so everyone would know. However, I would have expected less coldness between the Soviet and American astronauts at the Moon. They are people, after all, going through similar situations and facing similar technical challenges. I'd say their common situation isn't unlike the people in bases in Antarctica. Their countries might be rivals but, at the end, they are just people in a dangerous and isolated outpost.
 
I don't think there are other powers, not this early in the space race. Plus, that requires building a deep space network on Earth, so everyone would know. However, I would have expected less coldness between the Soviet and American astronauts at the Moon. They are people, after all, going through similar situations and facing similar technical challenges. I'd say their common situation isn't unlike the people in bases in Antarctica. Their countries might be rivals but, at the end, they are just people in a dangerous and isolated outpost.

It just reminded me of the line in Clue, "What about the Russians?" "Oh, they were _red_ herrings" ...
 
While it would be pretty cool for it to be a third faction on the moon, I'm stumped to think who it could be. The POD that started the show doesn't seem to really allow any other countries to be on the moon. The only thing I could think of would be maybe a secret USAF base?
 
There is a bit of a gap in the plot, in relation to the advances in technology. As mentioned, we seem to have some sort of reusable LEM, but there's no explanation, for example, of how it refuels. The CM remains in lunar orbit for 3 months, which raises similar issues about endurance and life-expectancy.

It'll be interesting to see how the next episode deals with Baldwin being alone on the Moon. Having flown an empty seat back to Earth, they now need to fly an empty seat in the other direction. Plus, after 3 months, NASA presumably want to get him back to Earth quickly. If they simply send Apollo 24, with its planned three-person crew, this alone won't get Baldwin home, nor will it provide enough seats to evacuate Jamestown, if required.

It seems that some sort of rescue, or hybrid, mission will be required in place of, or in addition to, Apollo 24.
 
We've had mention of the unmanned Titan rockets, so I'm going to guess they will send Baldwin some sort of fuel packs up on that.

What even happens to the Titans once they've supplied Jamestown. Do they get fired into deep space or are they reusable?

I don't think the LEM was intentionally reusable, it was only meant to go down and then back up when the crew leave and Baldwin dropping Poole and Gordo off was an unplanned event.

But is it possible the LEM could be partly solar powered, or have a solar battery itself hooked up to the same array that was powering Jamestown and the buggy?

I think we're going to have to get A24 and A25 up to Jamestown in rapid succession.

2 people up on A24, gets a LEM to Jamestown. 3 people go up on A25, one remains on Jamestown, the other two return with Baldwin.

Could a Titan bring a spare lunar lander purely because of this issue? Could we see NASA expanding Jamestown to hold more than 3?
 
Baldwin, et al are Apollo 22--their mission patch says that and "Jamestown 2," so they're the second crew to occupy the base. Apollo 21 was the first.
 
I don't think the LEM was intentionally reusable, it was only meant to go down and then back up when the crew leave and Baldwin dropping Poole and Gordo off was an unplanned event.

The LEM in this plot must be redesigned/upgraded from the one in OTL. First, it is designed to carry three people up and down, which implies more fuel. Then we have the issue of the legs, which were originally left on the moon. Then we have the question of enough fuel to land again, and to eventually take off. I accept that fuel may be resupplied my unmanned craft, it's just that none of this has been explained.

I think we're going to have to get A24 and A25 up to Jamestown in rapid succession.

2 people up on A24, gets a LEM to Jamestown. 3 people go up on A25, one remains on Jamestown, the other two return with Baldwin.

Yes, something like that makes sense. It's possible that the still in post #16 (from a trailer) will be part of the solution here. In OTL, there was a contingency plan to evacuate Skylab, and fly a Apollo CM back to Earth with five people onboard, but coming all the way from the Moon in that configuration seems unlikely. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_Rescue)
 
I know everybody is excited about the space part of the mission but am I the only one who find Ellen and Larry's storyline gripping?

You are definitely not alone.

As an LGBT guy myself, I'm kinda hoping that Ellen or Larry end up even bigger figures in Mission Control and the space programme. Like Ellen singlehandedly saves Baldwin or something and comes out live on television, so she's seen as a hero and they can't visibly punish her. I just hope they don't go down the Kill Your Gays trope.

It will be interesting how they handle the AIDS crisis when they hit the eighties,or if they even touch on it. Reagan didn't respond well to it, it will be interesting to see who this timelines President is and how they respond.

Do we know who Kennedy's Veep is?
 
Seen episode 1 now and fairly decent so far.

Not entirely sure if it’s going to be too soap opera or not, but too early to call. Nice use of archive footage, esp of Nixon to frame the political bits. Not sure where the Mexico bits are going- and did it really take them the 3 days to get to the Moon to cross the border?

Will def watch more of this.


EditDeleteReport
 
Not sure where the Mexico bits are going

Aleida Rosales is being set up as someone who will obviously make an important contribution to the space program somewhere down the line, but like Ellen Waverly also harbors a secret with her undocumented status.
 
Well - wow ...

So, it looks like ...

Apollo 15: Ed Baldwin, Molly Cobb, Frank Sedgewick
Apollo 16: ?
Apollo 17: ?
Apollo 18: Danielle Poole, Gordo Stevens, +1
Apollo 19: Ellen Waverley, Harrison Liu, +1
Apollo 20:
Apollo 21:
Apollo 22: Ed Baldwin, Danielle Poole, Gordo Stevens
Apollo 23: Michael Collins, +2
Apollo 24: Ellen Waverley, Deke Slayton, Harrison Liu
Apollo 25: Molly Cobb, Tracey Stevens, +1
 
I know it will not happen, but I would love the 2nd season to be in the same timeframe but.... from Soviet perspective. Their desperate race of against the Americans, triumphs and many hidden tragedies of the Soviet space program.

Korolev fighting despite poor health for more money and resources and always kept in shadow, known to the world only as the Chief Designer. The female cosmonaut Belikova - angry about being made just a propaganda tool and fighting to be allowed to return to space. A wife of a Soviet cosmonaut who is forced to suffer in silence, because the disaster which killed her husband officially never happened. A Tadjik engineer, constantly worried about being pulled out of the program as politically unreliable. Soviet cosmonauts in their moonbase, bored almost to death (no videotapes), with spying on Americans as their main entertainment...
 
Scott Manley is curious just what this brief shot in the trailer was supposed to be, and I'm curious, too. Two Apollo CSMs in high earth orbit rendezvous, one still attached to its SIV-B, and at least one astronaut spacewalking between them. But why?

No one seems to have figured out an answer yet.

EFjBDstXYAI2TfN


So, with only two episodes to go, it seems that this image, captured from an early trailer, must be Apollo 24, and 25, in orbit together. Although, what could be going on, I’m still no wiser.
 
Top