14 ms·

Not sure how much I trust this page but if you are interested in an alternative history version of the space race I highly recommend For All Mankind on AppleTV+

Not sure how much I trust this page but if you are interested in an alternative history version of the space race I highly recommend For All Mankind on AppleTV+! It's a great show IMO. It shows what might have happened if the USSR beat the US to the moon and the Space Race never ended. It kicks the US into high gear and leads to a more advanced and in my opinion better USA (more liberal and technological/focused on Science). It's a biased towards a progressive viewpoint (so am I so it works really well for me).

sumitviii 6y ago
Maybe the show tries to say that winning leads to slacking off?
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  I'd say it says the competition can bring out the best in us. Which I find to be generally true, of course it can also bring out the worst in us also!
lostlogin 6y ago
The show is great. Without too much of a spoiler, the route it takes toward the end with its need for individual heroics is rather unfortunate.
- simonh 6y ago
  To be fair in the end it's down to a very small number of individuals a long way from Earth having to deal with extraordinary circumstances. That's hardly unrealistic given the circumstances.
- tnorthcutt 6y ago
  FYI, there's another season starting in just a few days. Just sharing in case you weren't aware.
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  I think that's one of the things I really like about the show. That is shows that even in Hard(ish) SciFi there is room for humans to be heroes. Also minor spoiler ------ it show's diverse crews as being able to perform heroics just as much as the standard male heroic type.
- andrei_says_ 6y ago
  May I recommend The Expanse as another, possibly more mature, take on humanity’s space era.
  - jaegerpicker 6y ago
    Actually the expanse, for all mankind, and the martian are my erm ... I guess holy trinity of modern hard(ish) sci fi about space exploration. There is a lot of overlap in the fandoms of each and each series references each other to give a very unofficial shared universe feel. For example: The expanse has had references to the USN Jamestown which is from For All Mankind (it was a model in the expanse in an office of a thing -trying to avoid spoilers - that appears in FAM) The expanse had a ship named the MCRN Watney (Mark Watney is the name of the character in the Martian) The Authors of each series have praised the other series and jokingly said that it's the same timeline/universe. I know it's not really but in my head cannon it is and I really LOVE that timeline. I'd HIGHLY recommend all three as they are my favorite media properties.
    - JumpCrisscross 6y ago
      Would add Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy to that last. At the very least, the first one.
      - jaegerpicker 6y ago
        It's on my to read list. I need to bump it up to the top I think though!
    - lostlogin 6y ago
      The Foundation Series is really great (at least for the first 3/4). Its books obvious but the ideas are so good. The dialogue and characters are a bit basic, but it’s more than made up for by the story.
      - jaegerpicker 6y ago
        Yeah I need to read that prior to the Apple TV series launching!
- itissid 6y ago
  Very unfortunate because a lot of practical engineering and battle tested systems design practices came from the apollo program and it would not have happened without teams of people working together.
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  I think they address this pretty well actually. It's hard to say exactly where without spoilers but in particular a character talks about the difference that a death of a hero (astronaut) makes vs the command control guys or nameless ground crew. One of the many things I liked about the show is pointing out how that really matters why it shouldn't.
Koshkin 6y ago
Honestly, I have never understood why landing on the Moon first would amount to winning the space race (except being nice to think about it as such).
- pueblito 6y ago
  Every race has to have a finish line
  - sobellian 6y ago
    The most obvious counterexample to this would be an arms race.
    - conk 6y ago
      Maybe we just haven’t hit the “finish line” yet with the arms race...
      - Teknoman117 6y ago
        I really hope that line would have been "the weapons are good enough", but considering the US stockpile of nuclear weapons at the end of the Cold War was enough to cause the extinction of humanity a few times over, I guess not...
        learc83 6y ago
        The claim that we have (or had) enough nuclear weapons to cause the actual extinction of humanity, much less cause it several times over, is dubious. If you google it there are numerous articles debating it. At the very least there isn’t scientific consensus.
        danielheath 6y ago
        > scientific consensus Do you propose an experimental measurement? /s
f6v 6y ago
Sounds interesting, is it filled with drunk angry soviets though?
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  There has only been one season and the main Russian on the show was actually pretty cool IMO. The show does a decent job of showing the USSR's people as being real people, not evil communists.
cydonian_monk 6y ago
I wish I could recommend "For All Mankind", but I can't. And while I feel the first three episodes were strong and well produced, I just really really didn't agree with where it ended up going. I'll still watch the second season because it's scifi on TV and it's a genuinely interesting show, but I can't shake the "late seasons of Battlestar Galactica" feeling the later 2/3rds or the season left me with.
lsllc 6y ago
For All Mankind is an awesome show, can highly recommend. A very interesting take on how the space race could have gone. Also has some thoughtful insights into how society was in the 60s (well, I suppose that depends on the telling). Starring Joel Kinnaman was also in the 1st season of Altered Carbon (which is what got me to try this series). Season 2 coming out Friday, looking forward to it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)

sumitviii 6y ago

Maybe the show tries to say that winning leads to slacking off?

jaegerpicker 6y ago
I'd say it says the competition can bring out the best in us. Which I find to be generally true, of course it can also bring out the worst in us also!

lostlogin 6y ago

The show is great. Without too much of a spoiler, the route it takes toward the end with its need for individual heroics is rather unfortunate.

simonh 6y ago
To be fair in the end it's down to a very small number of individuals a long way from Earth having to deal with extraordinary circumstances. That's hardly unrealistic given the circumstances.
tnorthcutt 6y ago
FYI, there's another season starting in just a few days. Just sharing in case you weren't aware.
jaegerpicker 6y ago
I think that's one of the things I really like about the show. That is shows that even in Hard(ish) SciFi there is room for humans to be heroes. Also minor spoiler ------ it show's diverse crews as being able to perform heroics just as much as the standard male heroic type.
andrei_says_ 6y ago
May I recommend The Expanse as another, possibly more mature, take on humanity’s space era.
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  Actually the expanse, for all mankind, and the martian are my erm ... I guess holy trinity of modern hard(ish) sci fi about space exploration. There is a lot of overlap in the fandoms of each and each series references each other to give a very unofficial shared universe feel. For example: The expanse has had references to the USN Jamestown which is from For All Mankind (it was a model in the expanse in an office of a thing -trying to avoid spoilers - that appears in FAM) The expanse had a ship named the MCRN Watney (Mark Watney is the name of the character in the Martian) The Authors of each series have praised the other series and jokingly said that it's the same timeline/universe. I know it's not really but in my head cannon it is and I really LOVE that timeline. I'd HIGHLY recommend all three as they are my favorite media properties.
  - JumpCrisscross 6y ago
    Would add Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy to that last. At the very least, the first one.
    - jaegerpicker 6y ago
      It's on my to read list. I need to bump it up to the top I think though!
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    The Foundation Series is really great (at least for the first 3/4). Its books obvious but the ideas are so good. The dialogue and characters are a bit basic, but it’s more than made up for by the story.
    - jaegerpicker 6y ago
      Yeah I need to read that prior to the Apple TV series launching!
itissid 6y ago
Very unfortunate because a lot of practical engineering and battle tested systems design practices came from the apollo program and it would not have happened without teams of people working together.
jaegerpicker 6y ago
I think they address this pretty well actually. It's hard to say exactly where without spoilers but in particular a character talks about the difference that a death of a hero (astronaut) makes vs the command control guys or nameless ground crew. One of the many things I liked about the show is pointing out how that really matters why it shouldn't.

Koshkin 6y ago

Honestly, I have never understood why landing on the Moon first would amount to winning the space race (except being nice to think about it as such).

pueblito 6y ago
Every race has to have a finish line
- sobellian 6y ago
  The most obvious counterexample to this would be an arms race.
  - conk 6y ago
    Maybe we just haven’t hit the “finish line” yet with the arms race...
    - Teknoman117 6y ago
      I really hope that line would have been "the weapons are good enough", but considering the US stockpile of nuclear weapons at the end of the Cold War was enough to cause the extinction of humanity a few times over, I guess not...
      - learc83 6y ago
        The claim that we have (or had) enough nuclear weapons to cause the actual extinction of humanity, much less cause it several times over, is dubious. If you google it there are numerous articles debating it. At the very least there isn’t scientific consensus.
        danielheath 6y ago
        > scientific consensus Do you propose an experimental measurement? /s

f6v 6y ago

Sounds interesting, is it filled with drunk angry soviets though?

jaegerpicker 6y ago
There has only been one season and the main Russian on the show was actually pretty cool IMO. The show does a decent job of showing the USSR's people as being real people, not evil communists.

cydonian_monk 6y ago

I wish I could recommend "For All Mankind", but I can't. And while I feel the first three episodes were strong and well produced, I just really really didn't agree with where it ended up going. I'll still watch the second season because it's scifi on TV and it's a genuinely interesting show, but I can't shake the "late seasons of Battlestar Galactica" feeling the later 2/3rds or the season left me with.

lsllc 6y ago

For All Mankind is an awesome show, can highly recommend. A very interesting take on how the space race could have gone. Also has some thoughtful insights into how society was in the 60s (well, I suppose that depends on the telling). Starring Joel Kinnaman was also in the 1st season of Altered Carbon (which is what got me to try this series). Season 2 coming out Friday, looking forward to it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)