For 4 seasons, Apple TV+’s For All Mankind has introduced an alternate historical past of the house race, beginning in a world the place Russia, not America, put the primary particular person on the moon. That single incident creates a domino impact on historical past: Within the first season, set within the Sixties and ’70s, america permits ladies into the NASA pilot program. Within the Eighties, each America and Russia construct small manned bases on the moon. By the Nineteen Nineties, American and Russian house applications are competing not solely with one another however with personal house tourism efforts, together with a large orbital lodge.
Within the fourth season, set in 2003, the U.S., Russia, a personal house exploration firm, and North Korea have arrange a joint settlement on Mars. However tensions run excessive when the employees revolt, staging a strike simply as an asteroid ripe for mining drifts by the photo voltaic system. There are black market operations and an unlawful speakeasy, high-stakes geopolitical negotiations, and lethal outer-space operations. The present presents house exploration, beneath no matter nationwide or company aegis, as dangerous, tough—and gloriously vital for the expansion of humanity.
This text initially appeared in print beneath the headline “For All Mankind”.