Red Moon

## Chronology

"**Red Moon**" is the premiere episode of the first season of *For All Mankind*. It was released on Apple TV+ on November 1, 2019.

## Synopsis

NASA is in the crisis as the Soviets land the first man on the Moon in 1969, the beginning of an alternate history.

## Plot

On June 26, 1969, in Parras de la FuenteW, Mexico, Aleida Rosales is called by her mom, who was watching the Moon landing.

Other people are also watching the landing which was preformed by the Soviets. At NASA's Mission Control, and all over the USA, everybody is devastated watching the live broadcasts. The man who landed, Alexei Leonov's first words were "I take this step for my country, for my people, and for the Marxist-Leninist way of life. Knowing that today is but one small step on a journey that someday will take us all to the stars."

Shane Baldwin is called by his mom Karen in order to go to school. He says goodbye to his parents and leaves. After this, Edward Baldwin is asked by his wife what would happen since the USA was not the first country to land on the Moon, and he says that there would be a meeting in order to discuss it, and leaves for work.

At the meeting, Deke Slayton mentions Apollo 11 is scheduled to fly in 2.5 weeks, and Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins would continue to train as had been planned. He also said training for Apollo 12 - 20 would also continue, as there had been no instructions from the top. However, Deke told them that the training would not be continued that day, since it was time to be pissed about the events, suggesting they take the weekend off to get drunk and blow off steam.

The men raced to the Outpost Tavern, declaring the last one to get there would buy the drinks. At the tavern, they sang and played darts while nailing a newspaper to the target. The men all called barkeeper Pam Horton to throw a beer at the newspaper, and they all followed.

NASA Administrator Thomas Paine demanded answers from Wernher von Braun and CIA agent Winston Blake. He said the CIA failed to tell them there was going to be a Soviet Moon landing, but Blake answered they did report two launches. Paine asks if they could move up the launch of the Apollo 11, and was told that the phase of the Moon would not allow them to do this.

At a press meeting, Deke is asked why they didn't land on the Moon a month before when they had sent Apollo 10. Deke simply responded it was not on the mission plan, and Wernher von Braun supported him by saying the fuel levels on Apollo 10 were insufficient for a landing, and the spacecraft weighed too much for a landing, so it was never considered.

*Newsweek* reporter Paul Santoro walks into Outpost, and asks the astronauts what they thought about the event, but nobody wants to comment about it. Paul approaches the crew of Apollo 10, Ed and Gordo, and tries to get them talking by telling them what happened to them must sting. Gordo mentions it wasn't true that the spacecraft was too heavy and had too little fuel, but it was not on their mission plan, and leaves to the toilet. Santoro stays with Ed and wonders why NASA didn't have the guts to let him land, and Ed starts remembering his mission. He concludes that NASA does not have guts anymore since the Apollo 1 fire. What Ed does not agree with is changing the culture of test flights just because men died, since they all know the risk they are taking when they take test flights.

In Mexico, Aleida is mourning her mother, who died of her illness on June 30. Then she gets on a truck with her father.

In Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, an alarm sounds during a landing simulation. Margo Madison tells Bill Strausser that the computer is rebooting but they can still land. However, he does not listen to her and therefore flight director Gene Kranz decides to abort the landing sim. Wernher von Braun tells her the fault is hers because she hesitated.

At Deke's office, the former is reading Ed from the *Newsweek* article what he had said about NASA not having guts anymore. Deke tells him von Braun wants him reassigned to the Apollo Applications ProgramW effective immediately, telling him he was to blame for being taken off Apollo 15, even mentioning that von Braun wanted him off the project completely. Deke tells him Apollo 15 may not even happen since everything everything would probably be cancelled after Apollo 11.

Ed tells the news to his wife, who asks him if he would be sitting behind a desk, which he denies. She concludes he would then be returning to the navy and asks him where they would be moving. However, Ed doubts they would have an open slot on the flight test for him, which meant he would ask for carrier duty which meant he would be sent back to the Seventh FleetW, which means they would be in Oahu. Ed is not glad with the way the conversation is turning out, but Karen tells him there was a code, and can not believe all it took for him to say what he did about NASA were a few drinks and he would start saying everything to reporters. Later, as Ed sleeps on the couch, he wakes up and goes to his bed, where his wife invites him.

The next day he walks into a packed office where he is greeted by silence. Afterwards, he apologizes for what he did and confirms his trust in Neil, Buzz, and Michael who would all be going to the Moon soon. Deke walks in and reminds them only two weeks were left until the launch.

After a month since the Soviet landing, Apollo 11 kept training until it was finally time for the departure. Flight director Gene Kranz was giving final instructions and told everyone involved in the control of the mission that this mission was about the future of the United States, because if they failed, they would turn away from space and the future, which would belong to the Soviet Union. He also mentioned that if the mission proved to be a success, this would just be the beginning and they would go to Mars, the outer planets, and beyond.

As Apollo 11 took off, Aleida, along with her father went to the Mexican-US border. Karen and Shane went to a dinner party while Ed was at Outpost. Pam asks him what he would have said if he had been the first to land on the Moon, and Ed mentions he never thought about it. Gordo says that the Moon landing could have brought people hope since there was a lot of hate in the world. When asked what he would have said, he mentions "I'm Gordo Stevens and I come in peace. Three times a night", which makes Ed and Pam laugh.

As Apollo 11 reached the Moon, everything seemed to be in order. Karen and Tracy Stevens were talking when Marge Slayton walked in. Karen went with her to talk, and Marge told her it would be best for Ed to make a public denial, stating that he was misquoted by the reporter. With that, there would be a possibility for Deke to reinstate him onto Apollo 15. However, Karen stated that duty and honor were things that mattered to her husband, so he would never agree to it.

Margo and von Braun are talking in the latter's office and go see if they can effectively land on the Moon. At Outpost, everybody cheers for Neil and the rest of the crew. The three started reaching the Moon's surface, but could not find a good place to land, also with little fuel left. Asking Gene if they should abort, the director said it was up to Neil now. As they neared the surface, the crew became worried that they would hit something. As one of them warned, telemetric connection, as well as all other means of contact were lost.

Houston tried contacting them, but they were not reaching the crew. As time went by, Mission Control was still unable to reach Apollo 11. Von Braun concluded it was likely they had crashed. Since the *Eagle* had such thin "skin", Gene mentioned you could punch a hole in it with a screwdriver. They could have survived, as they had their suits on, but Deke mentioned there was no contingency plan, and von Braun said it was impossible to perform a rescue from the lunar surface.

Mike, who was in lunar orbit used a telescope and concluded *Eagle* was about six to eight miles southwest to the targeted landing site in a very rocky area, with no movement. Over four hours had passed, and Karen went with Marge, who told them to go to the Aldrin's and Armstrong's houses.

Deke went to von Braun and told them there was a problem since Michael Collins was refusing to return alone. All of a sudden, they received a transmission from Neil, who let them know that they had landed successfully. Everybody cheered, and Gene mentioned they would now have to focus on bringing them home again.

## Notes

1. ↑     There is a discrepancy with the date of the *Newsweek* edition lying on Deke's desk.

The edition is dated "July 29, 1969", which is not possible as this episode ends on July 20 with Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. It could have been meant to be "June 29" instead of July, however that would be a Sunday. More likely, it should be "June 30", which would correspond with the real life release day of *Newsweek* during that era, Mondays, and would also fit best into the episode's time flow.
In the episode's timeline, Deke's presentation of the article to Ed seemingly happened on July 1, after June 30 (dead of Aleida's mother, seen at 24:32) but before July 2 (14 days to Apollo 11 launch, seen at 34:52 and said at 37:26).

## Cast

show/hide list

**Main Cast**

* Joel Kinnaman as Edward Baldwin
* Michael Dorman as Gordo Stevens
* Sarah Jones as Tracy Stevens
* Shantel VanSanten as Karen Baldwin
* Jodi Balfour as Ellen Waverly (credit only)
* Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison

**Guest Starring**

* Chris Bauer as Deke Slayton
* Colm Feore as Wernher von Braun
* Eric Ladin as Gene Kranz
* Michael J. Harney as Jack Broadstreet
* Dan Donohue as Thomas Paine
* Arturo Del Puerto as Octavio Rosales
* Olivia Trujillo as Aleida Rosales
* Ben Begley  as Charlie Duke
* Rebecca Wisocky as Marge Slayton
* Meghan Leathers as Pam Horton
* Jeff Branson as Neil Armstrong
* Chris Agos as Buzz Aldrin
* Ryan Kennedy as Michael Collins
* Noah Harpster as Bill Strausser
* Nick Toren as Tim "Bird Dog" McKiernan
* Daniel Scott Robbins as Hank Poppen
* Deniz Akdeniz  as Paul Santoro
* Brandon Bales  as Winston Blake
* Dave Power as Frank Sedgewick
* Nick Wechsler  as Fred
* Steven Pritchard  as Pete Conrad
* Spencer Garrett as Roger Scott

**Co-Starring**

* Teddy Blum as Young Shane Baldwin
* Tony Lewellen  as Coop
* Jason Scott David as Young Danny Stevens
* William Lee Holler as Young Jimmy Stevens
* Vanessa Lyon  as Graciana Rosales
* Jeffrey Muller  as Del
* Max Barsness  as Tommy
* Christopher Wallinger  as Harvey
* Paolo Cesar  as Guide
* Christopher Kohls  as Control Officer
* Curtis Fortier  as Reporter #1
* Brian Houtz  as Reporter #2
* Laura Patalano  as Teresa
* Frank Gallegos  as Angel
* Margarita Reyes  as Elena
* Colton Castaneda  as Jim

**Other**

* Walter Cronkite  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Yuri Gagarin  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Lyndon B. Johnson  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* John F. Kennedy  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Robert F. Kennedy  as Ted Kennedy (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Ted Kennedy  as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Nikita Khrushchev  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Jim Meskimen as Richard Nixon (voice) (uncredited)
* Richard Nixon  as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Pope Paul VI  as SelfW (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Frank Scozzari  as Air Force Tech Sergeant (uncredited)
* Kalina Vanska  as Woman at NASA (uncredited)

## Video

For All Mankind - "Failure Is Not An Option"Gene Krantz: "Failure Is Not An Option"
## Appearances

### Events & missions

Event:
 **Kennedy announces
manned Moon landing** (1961)Mission: **Unknown**
First manned Moon landingMission: **Apollo 10** (flashback)
US dress rehearsalMission: **Apollo 11**
First manned US Moon landing
### Vehicles & vessels

 **N1**
Soviet Moon rocket **LK lander**
Soviet Moon landing craft **Saturn V**
American Moon rocket ***Columbia***
Apollo 11 command & service module ***Eagle***
Apollo 11 landing module
## External links

### Soundtrack

  Soundtrack of episode 1x01, "Red Moon" on Tunefind
### Transcript

  Transcript of episode 1x01, "Red Moon" on TV Show Transcripts