For All Mankind (Apple TV+ series)

[LunarOrbit]

Has anyone else watched the series "For All Mankind" on Apple TV+ yet?

I probably wouldn't have subscribed to Apple TV+ (who needs another subscription service, right?) if I hadn't seen the trailer for this show. Now, after having seen all of season 1, I'm curious what others think of it.

It's definitely an alternate reality (not just an alternate timeline) because there are too many fictional characters, and I also can't imagine the US being so socially progressive at that time... not even under the special circumstances depicted in the show. Several real people (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Deke Slayton, Werner von Braun, Gene Kranz, and maybe a few others) have characters in the show, but they are in the background most of the time.

I won't try to comment on the historical or technical accuracy, but it was an interesting series and most of the space hardware looked pretty good (at least from my level of knowledge). The final two episodes were especially good... make sure you watch all the way through the credits after the last episode.

[Ranb]

I've watched season 1 and the first two episodes of season 2.  It's okay.  Some comments. 

I could have done without the whiny Director of NASA.

It shows an early lunar base with no return vehicle; it just appears when they need it. 

They used the space shuttle to transport people between Earth and lunar orbit?  Wouldn't it be far less expensive to use a smaller dedicated vehicle to go from lunar orbit to Earth orbit and back instead of hauling so much more fuel from Earth to get the required delta V for a much heavier space shuttle?

Would a solar flare consisting of protons really disrupt the lunar surface as shown?

They should have shown the effects of the astronauts radiation exposure.

It would have been nice to see more of the Soviet LOK and LK spacecraft instead of the very brief part shown.

[Obviousman]

I won't comment on any technical details. Agree it would be nice to have seen some more of the Soviet hardware.

I'm loving it. It tied in some 'alternate' events nicely and has been a great drama. Just watched S2E2 and still loving it. My fiancée - who couldn't care less about my Apollo obsession - watched it and has made me re-watch from the beginning because she is enjoying it!

[Ranb]

Some of the fictional characters are based on or inspired by actual persons like Cobb and Cooper.  I wonder if the Ellen Wilson character will be someone like Dr. Sally Ride as the series continues.

[Ranb]

Sally Ride appears!  That is a nice touch.  I wonder what her family thinks of the character?

Other comments.

Apollo 15 changes its mission too much for credibility.  Changing to a southern landing zone near Shackleton then using the rover as a winch for descending into the crater?  How did they get the wire mesh wheel off of the rim?  Hammer? 

Why did they bring 100 meters of cable to the moon?  That is heavy.  They just happen to have it for something else not mentioned in the episode?  Ten meters of cable for various experiments is more likely.

Exhaling cigarette smoke into a vacuum hose is not going to prevent Tracy from stinking up and polluting the Jamestown atmosphere.  Perhaps if she was smoking inside of a helmet with the vacuum hose sucking air from it then exhausting into an activated charcoal filter?

Cobb and Wubbo would have had symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue) of radiation sickness within several hours of their high rate of exposure during the solar storm.  Wubbo's dosimeter read 200 rem.  Although this causes "mild" radiation sickness, it can be fatal without medical care.  There is no way Cobb could have hidden this from the Jamestown crew.

Jamestown interior scenes show normal Earth gravity.  Only in the lunar surface exterior scenes do we see 1/6th gravity.

The rifles the crew carries in the season 2 episodes seem to just be M-16's with small scopes and a white coating of paint.  Better that they they used a CAR-15 with a 14" barrel or the new (back then) M-4.  A scope with a much wider eyepiece would make aiming the rifle while wearing a bulky spacesuit much easier.  The polymer stock and handguard would also need to be replaced with metal as a coating of paint might not be good enough to reflect enough radiation to prevent softening the material.

Pathfinder phoenix missile.  The version they refer to has fins for steering in the atmosphere and no thrusters for operation in space.  Fins are useless outside the atmosphere.

There is no way to hook up and refuel a service module near the moon, especially in the ten minutes they had left prior to reaching the point of no return during the Apollo 24 mishap.

I think the writers were a bit lazy.  A bit more effort would make this a better show to watch.