‘For All Mankind’ Recap: ‘He Built the Saturn V’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 102 of ‘For All Mankind’.
​
When one thinks of big-time mistakes, the kind that involve public figures whose life in the limelight depends upon solid optics and a steady reputation, one immediately thinks of the fallout to come. Because that kind of person won’t tolerate looking bad in the slightest, and they will go the extra mile to bring those who embarrassed them to ‘justice’, and that always ends in the ugliest of fashion. Because revenge is a messy business, and after losing to the Russians in the Space Race in the opening chapter of For All Mankind, it is safe to say that we all knew President Nixon would want someone to pay for making him look bad in the eyes of the world. 
​
Which means that revenge is precisely what ‘He Built the Saturn V’ focuses upon. Because Nixon is indeed hopping mad after Apollo 11 returns to Earth and his desire for ‘accountability’ leads to some tense times at NASA. The kind that see Ed Baldwin continue to take some serious flack for speaking up about how the agency ‘lost its guts’. Because he is still on desk duty when we catch up with him in this tale, and he is struggling as to what his future is going to look like. For he still wants in on Apollo 15, but if he can’t fly then he is fully prepared to go back to the Navy and his frustrations and lost nature in this tale, serves as the catalyst for the Nixon Administration to launch a plan for revenge, one that could likely clear Ed’s name and get him back into the stars where he firmly belongs. 

All he has to do that make that happen, is throw Director von Braun under the bus on Capitol Hill by making him appear to be the reason that NASA didn’t land Apollo 10 when it had the chance. But Ed is a man of integrity and would do no such thing, and instead took the blame and the fall and stepped away from the agency in the process. But Nixon would still have his revenge, and by using Operation: Paperclip as his guide, he had his boys utterly humiliate the director on national television when he swung by D.C. to speak to what happened with Apollo 10. And having his past put on full display in a manipulative light, despite the forgiveness that America offered him for his transgressions in the Second World War, was enough to put an end to his career with the agency. 

But while that makes it seem as though this episode was filled to the brim with nothing but sour and vindictive moments, there were still some bright spots to be found along the way. After all, Ed was eventually reinstated at NASA and was told he should plan to fly with Apollo 15 down the line, giving him the second chance he so desperately craved. Plus, Margo earned quite the incredible honor, in that she was selected by Gene Krantz as the first woman to ever serve in Flight Control. Which is quite the big deal for certain, and despite a few road bumps with her teammates, she quickly found a way to establish herself as a trusted member of flight control, and really, this push toward change at NASA, the kind where fresh eyes find new homes; could not have come at a better moment.

For shortly after Apollo 12 took to the skies, to scout for a future site for a Lunar Military Base since the Cold War is moving to the Moon; the Russians landed another cosmonaut on Luna’s rocky surface. One that just so happens to be a woman, once again forever changing the nature of the space race. For NASA will have to respond in kind and it should be interesting to see if America is indeed planning to send women into space earlier in this alternate timeline, since it wasn’t until 1983 in our world, that America sent its first Female Astronaut into space when Sally Ride served aboard the Challenger. But before we get ahead of ourselves, its best we take a moment and celebrate a fascinating episode. One that properly explored the fallout of such a momentous failure and this show gets serious credit for slowing things down for a moment and giving the characters time to reflect and grow. Especially since it would seem that an intense new chapter in the revitalized space race is about to get underway. Until next time.

---