🍭 🎣 🥚 The series "For All Mankind": from an alternative story to trash 🔶 🔈 ⭕️

A serious alternative story (and not “special forces Vasya fell into the Paleolithic and built a bright future”) is good because it gives a wider picture and makes it possible to understand why exactly what happened in reality, which events were logical, and which were due to luck or failure. For example, considering an alternative storylaunch of the first satellite, it becomes clear that the event happened naturally, very on time and in the most suitable country, and the accident of a rocket launched on October 4, 1957, would only change the date of the celebration. Therefore, I was waiting with great interest for the release of the series “For All Mankind”, which promised us an alternative history of the lunar race. Alas, the series began beautifully, the series, sagging in places, told a very specific agenda and slipped into trash for the last series.

Poster of the series

Under the cut moderate spoilers, inevitable when analyzing technical points

First episode

The start of the series is cheerful, dramatic and beautiful: on June 26, 1969, three weeks before the start of Apollo 11, astronauts and the Houston MCC, with difficulty restraining a storm of emotions, look at the first landing on the moon, performed by the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Unlike our reality, the first launch of the Soviet lunar N-1 rocket successfully occurred a month earlier (January 1969 instead of February), and in the second one the astronauts went to the Moon, and in the USA they thought that both launches were unmanned, so the landing for It turned out to be a huge and unpleasant surprise. How much change in history does such a development require?

Frame from the series

The sensation of Soviet surprises was brilliantly captured - indeed, the USSR spoke little about its plans, did not give exact dates and did not report from launches, so the first satellite, Gagarin, Tereshkova, the first three-seater ship and the first spacewalk were huge surprises for the Americans . The USSR had real chances to be the first to fly around the moon, but in order for the Soviet cosmonaut to be the first on the surface, history needs to be changed a lot. The loss of the USSR in the lunar race was logical, and it could be predicted long before the start of Apollo 11. According to B.E. Chertok, Korolev already in the mid-60s (he passed away in January 1966) understood the degree of lagging behind the USA and somehow said in his hearts “damn them, let them land, but we will fly around the moon first!”

First of all, the leadership of the USSR did not perceive the lunar program as the main goal - the Government’s decree on landing on the moon was approved only in 1964, and it was overshadowed by decisions to create military missiles and other space programs. Little money was allocated to the Soviet lunar program. To fix this, it is necessary to introduce the motivation for the flight to the Moon, and it should be preserved after Khrushchev changed to Brezhnev. You may also have to tighten up the USSR economy so that the country has more money. Another problem was “feudalism” in design bureaus. Unlike NASA, which strictly determined contractors and suppliers for tenders, in the USSR already after the 1964 decree existed,several projects competed and inefficiently spent the already limited resources - two lunar ships (Koroleva and Chelomeya) and three (!) lunar missiles (Koroleva, Chelomeya and Yangelya). And finally, we need a completely different rocket - the real N-1 bears traces of the breakdown in relations between Korolev and Glushko, if you imagine that both ingenious designers have maintained good relations and worked together on a more successful project, there are chances for transport to the moon (all four launches real H-1 ended in failure).there are chances of transport to the moon (all four launches of the real N-1 ended in failure).there are chances of transport to the moon (all four launches of the real N-1 ended in failure).

The series does not explain exactly how its story differs from the real one, but focuses exclusively on the Americans. Soviet cosmonautics is practically not shown, and we look through the eyes of only American characters, which in my opinion is a minus. Despite the abundant presence of real figures, the main characters are fictional.

Meet astronaut Edward Baldwin, Apollo 10 commander (in reality, Thomas Stafford was in his place) with his wife Karen and son Shane. He could not detect a real prototype, but, in general, it was for the better.

Gordo Stevens, pilot of the Apollo 10 lunar module (in reality, Eugene Cernan was in his place) with his wife Tracy and children. By shortening the name to Gordo, the wife of the pilot, and mentioning the long flight on the Gemini, it becomes clear that the prototype of the character was astronaut Gordon Cooper. The real Cooper was the understudy of the commander at Apollo 10, but, without the prospect of being assigned to new missions, left the squad.

Margot Madison, Werner von Braun, in the background in a black vest Gene Kranz

Margot Madison, a fictional character. In the story, she is the protégé of Werner von Braun (her father was a friend of the latter) and is an image of an absolute workaholic - lives in the MCC and has no life outside of her career. At that time, there were two famous women at MCC - Poppy Northcatand JoAnn Morgan, but, according to the creators of the series, the idea of the character was born from the famous photograph of Margaret Hamilton, a programmer who wrote the code for the Apollo computer. Real Hamilton lived a richer life, was married, and in 1969 her daughter turned ten years old. Northcut is a sign of respect in the first episode, when in the morning Margot greets the blonde "hello Poppy!"

Aleida Rosales, a character showing a parallel life story of illegal migrants. The fictional and most undisclosed character. Just by age, she can become the main character no earlier than the second season.

The first episode is about how the United States copes with the shock of Leonov on the moon and how it is going to respond. The correct assumption is made that in order to respond to the success of the USSR, something even more advanced must be done, and the lunar base becomes such a goal. Unfortunately, the military immediately intervenes, who want the base to have some kind of military component. This is not realistic, the ideas of the missile bases on the Moon remained in the 50s, and by the end of the 60s it was already clear that ICBMs with a minimum time of readiness for launch would perfectly cope with their task without a lunar base.

The series ends with the landing of Apollo 11, and here the creators more than take advantage of the possibilities of an alternative story - the connection with the lunar module disappears, and it is unclear whether the astronauts are alive and whether they can return.

Second series

The second series, starting with a re-dramatized Apollo 11 launch from the Moon (well, seriously, if the orientation engines were in good condition, there would be no problem to rotate the module vertically), it goes on to two main problems: could the Apollo 10 land on the Moon, and how von Braun is responsible for participating in Nazi crimes during the creation of V-2.

The question whether Apollo 10 could sit on the moon in the series goes as far as the Senate hearings, and it transforms into a completely wild version of "who is to blame for the fact that Apollon 10 did not sit on the moon?" The real Apollo 10 could not sit down for several reasons at once. First of all, they flooded the take-off stagetwo times less than Apollo 11 fuel. The question of why they did this has several possible answers: Cernan jokes that they didn’t add fuel so that the astronauts would not accidentally sit down. It is possible that the fuel is not added to save weight. It also seems reasonable that the Apollo 10 mission was to work out not only a decrease, but also a return from the surface, so the take-off stage was run in such a way that the dynamics corresponded to a module that had taken up most of the fuel that had taken off from the Moon. Together with less engine thrust and a heavier lunar module, this did not give any chance of returning to orbit from the surface. Against this background, the lack of equipment for landing, not ready software for the final stages of landing, and the lack of photos of high-resolution landing sites are already a trifle.And the history of space flights shows that astronauts arguing with the MCC or not executing his commands end their careers quickly and forever. Scott Carpenter or the Apollo 7 crew is a good example. So the drama of Baldwin, who did not violate the flight plan and did not land on the moon, contradicts the real story.

The second drama of the series is how much Werner von Braun can be considered a Nazi criminal. Personally, in my opinion, the fact that after emigrating to the United States, von Braun took up space, rather than creating a neo-Nazi party, suggests that he was more important. He really was a member of the NSDAP, he was an SS man and could well have witnessed SS crimes at the factories where the V-2 rockets were made, but von Braun speaks in favor of the fact that he was denounced for “regret that he did not work on spaceship, ”and in 1944 he even spent two weeks in prison. In my opinion, the biography of von Braun is tragic, this is a gloomy story about how a genius, for the sake of his dream, makes a deal with the devil. And work for the benefit of mankind after the war for me makes von Braun's figure worthy of respect and good memory. But the creators of the series seem tohave a different opinion - in an alternative story, von Braun is shamelessly and expelled with shame from the space program. In reality, he was really pushed aside, and he quit NASA, but this happened later and more quietly. In general, the defamation of von Braun speaks badly more about the Americans themselves - since he is a Nazi criminal, it was worth putting him in prison in 1945, and not giving work. Remembering old sins after everything he did for the USA is too cynical and unsightly, and Margo’s reaction pushed me away from the character.Remembering old sins after everything he did for the USA is too cynical and unsightly, and Margo’s reaction pushed me away from the character.Remembering old sins after everything he did for the USA is too cynical and unsightly, and Margo’s reaction pushed me away from the character.

Third series

At the end of the second series of the USSR, the first woman lands on the moon, so the United States has to urgently assemble a female detachment of astronauts. From the good, the creators of the series recall the group "Mercury 13"- women who underwent the same research and tests as the astronauts of the first detachment of the USA, but in real history in the USA, the first astronauts appeared in the era of the shuttles, from the detachment of 1978. Here, two fictional characters take the stage - Molly Cobb (the real Cobb from Mercury 13 was called Jerry) and Patty Doyle (without an installed prototype). Molly is beautiful and about as cool as the real Cobb, who was in the top 2% of the Mercury trials with both sexes. From the bad - for drama, the creators of the series turn the selection process upside down - in real history, the selection of the best from a huge number of candidates took place before the squad was announced, and for those already selected, no one arranged a elimination competition. Here, the entire series shows us how candidates for astronauts compete with each other for places in the squad.

After the catastrophe in the third series, the fourth is devoted to rather dull political disputes whether to dissolve a female squad of astronauts or not, and switches to families, relationships and earthly life in general. We see Cobb’s rather funny husband, Margot’s unexpected hobby, and watch how one of the main plot topics begins to unfold - the astronaut from the female detachment turns out to be a lesbian and is forced to hide her relationship, passing off a gay buddy from the MCC as a boyfriend. On the one hand, American society was really conservative - for a long time only married pilots could make a career, and the first bachelor flew into space only on Apollo 13. And the real first American in space, Sally Ryde, although she was married and met with male astronauts, spent the last 27 years of her life in a lesbian relationship. On the other hand,the combination of stories about illegal migrants, LGBT people, feminism, military fools and the evil Soviet Union suggests that we are shown the modern agenda of the US Democratic Party, only the environment is not enough.

Molly was asked to smile

. Fortunately, in the episode there is a very nice story about how Cobb takes up his mind, which before that belonged to the space program in the style of Chuck Yeager from "Guys What You Need." In the end, Cobb becomes the first American in space and on the moon, going with Baldwin to the Apollo 15.

Fifth series

The real Apollo sat down near the lunar equator for two reasons: firstly, the trajectory of free return with the moon around in the event of an accident, which was so useful to Apollo 13, would require a change in orbit inclination and high fuel consumption for landing at the pole. Secondly, a certain angle of the Sun above the horizon was required for landing, so the polar regions were simply not considered. Apollo 15 really sat farthest from the equator, lounging at 26 ° north latitude, but in the series the scriptwriters' arbitrariness changed the flight program on the go and planted the lunar module at Shackleton Crater at the south pole. The lack of equipment, headlights, climbing equipment and the fact that a landing computer would have gone crazy over a crater does not interfere with the heroic search for water ice.

The anti-war agenda is emphasized by the husband of one of the astronauts who has returned from Vietnam, who throws his order straps in the sentry. A recent Russian performance involuntarily arises in my memory when a person walked along the stars scattered across the floor with shoulder straps. And Cobb’s husband is more of a woman than the wives of astronauts. Of the good things, it’s not boring to watch, an alternative story makes it easy to arrange disasters and kill characters, so when you look at moon adventures you get nervous as if you were watching a broadcast of a real space mission. The ending of the episode is probably the most positive of the whole season - the American base sits at Shackleton Crater.

Sixth series

FBI man hunts for gays

The first female flight director is Irene Hendricks (a fictional character, in reality, Michelle Brecke became the first in 1985), and not Margot. The “Democrat icon” Ted Kennedy is elected president of the United States, and in the United States they pass an amendment on equal rights that completely equalizes men and women (in reality, it has not yet been adopted in all states). But the trash slowly begins in the series - the sudden crash of Apollo 23 leaves the crew of the first lunar station without a change. On Earth, the FBI is launching an investigation into a potential Soviet sabotage, jeopardizing the previously quiet life of homosexuals at NASA, and on the moon, the astronauts are slowly starting to ride a roof: Baldwin is progressing with paranoia (the USSR also planted a base nearby) and Gordo is becoming less and less adequate. Margot is forced to go for an independent disaster report to von Braun,where he learns the truth about his father. To some, it may seem tragic, but I don’t get indignant at the quiet sleep of the weapons developer. Space technocrats on both sides of the ocean made intercontinental ballistic missiles, on the one hand, terrible weapons, ready to destroy hundreds of millions of people and obliterate the city, but, on the other hand, it was thanks to him that the Third World War did not happen in the 60s, 80s Fourth, and so every twenty years, when a new generation of recruits would grow up. In addition, the ethical aspect is very quickly spoiled by the fact that Margot cynically exchanges the discovered dirty political secret for the place of flight director. And the constant spit on procedures that the creators of the series condone is shown by the fact that astronauts stagger around the moon as much and when they want,not limited by either the work plan or the resources of a small base.

Seventh series

The research site in Shackleton Crater

Despite the large amount of screen time at the lunar base, the main theme has to space, unfortunately, only an indirect relation. Gordo’s roof finally fell off, and only the heroism and self-sacrifice of astronaut Danielle Poole allows him to return to Earth without a straitjacket. But Baldwin remains the only American on the Moon, so that the Soviet astronauts would not capture the empty base. It is worth noting the unrealistic scheme of lunar landings: the landing module is driven into orbit and back because Baldwin says goodbye to colleagues in orbit rather than the surface and, obviously, makes an additional landing alone.

Eighth episode

Baldwin spies on a Soviet base.

The series is dedicated to the tragedy in the Baldwin family. The decision made has analogues in the history of astronautics, sometimes bad news was postponed until the crews returned from orbit.

The final

The ninth and tenth episodes tell of an attempt to send the next crew, Apollo 24, to the lunar base. Naturally, a problem arises that the quickly launched Apollo 25 is trying to eliminate, but its correction gives rise to a new, much worse situation. Alas, realism in this whole story did not sleep. First of all, the real third stage of Saturn V had only one attempt to re-enable. It didn’t work out - all back home. Of course, one can imagine that it was finalized, but another factor comes into effect here - the third stage used liquid oxygen and hydrogen as fuel, which, despite the thermal insulation, were heated and boiled. The real step could wait no longer in orbitsix hours, after which boiling components were drained in the starting tank, and the pressure dropped below the level that was possible to start the engine. Even if this problem was solved in the alternative world, components from the main tanks would evaporate. Well, then begins the tin in the style of "Gravity", only on a fire extinguisher they do not fly through space.

With today's political situation, I would not be surprised at the arbitrarily disgusting image in the series of the Soviet side, but here, despite all the tin, the plot is optimistic - Baldwin still puts aside paranoia and accepts the offer of help from the Soviet cosmonaut. Of course, this can not stop to come up with some kind of dirty trick in the next season, which, by the way, has already been announced.

In the last minutes, the astrolasbians cuming out from the lunar base begs for it, but it doesn’t happen, the heroine prefers to say hello to a fictitious husband.

The final shots after the credits are also conditionally optimistic - the Baldwin couple is watching on TV the launch of the Sea Dragon superheavy rocket to the moon. The payload contains plutonium, and it is not known whether a peaceful reactor or nuclear weapon is brought to the lunar base.

Conclusion

In general, the series makes an ambiguous impression. The brilliant beginning gives way to boring series in the middle and a clear trash at the end. Of the advantages, it is worth noting the freshness of the approach and, in general, the correct conclusion that a victory in the lunar race of the USSR would lead to the need for a US response and a more active allocation of funds for the space program. A feature that may appeal to you as well as repulse is the presentation of the agenda of the US Democratic Party - not a great deal of topics are occupied by topics not of outer space, but of illegal migrants, feminism, LGBT people, legalization, anti-war rhetoric and the “bad USSR”. A drawback, in my opinion, will be minimal attention to the engineering and scientific parts - the development, construction and testing of, for example, the lunar base are not shown at all, the plot focuses on astronauts and employees of the MCC.

The series "For All Mankind": from an alternative story to trash