List of For All Mankind characters

For All Mankind is an American science fiction drama television series created and written by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi and produced for Apple TV+. The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States.
It premiered on November 1, 2019.
In April 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth season, and it was announced that a spinoff series titled Star City is in development, focusing on the Soviet space program.
In an alternate timeline in 1969, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first human to land on the Moon. This outcome devastates morale at NASA, but also catalyzes an American effort to catch up. With the Soviet Union emphasizing diversity by including a woman in subsequent landings, the United States is forced to match pace, training women and minorities who were largely excluded from the initial decades of U.S. space exploration. Each subsequent season takes place ten years later, with season two taking place in the 1980s, season three in the 1990s, and season four in the 2000s.
The series stars an ensemble cast including Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour and Wrenn Schmidt. Sonya Walger and Krys Marshall had recurring roles in the first season before being promoted to the main cast for the second season, while Cynthy Wu, Casey W. Johnson and Coral Peña newly joined the cast, with Johnson and Peña playing older versions of characters that were portrayed by child actors in the first season. The third season saw Edi Gathegi also joining, while the fourth season added Toby Kebbell, Tyner Rushing, Svetlana Efremova and Daniel Stern.
The series features historical figures including Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, NASA Administrator Thomas Paine, NASA flight director Gene Kranz, U.S. senator Ted Kennedy, and U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton with some of them portrayed by actors, while others appear through archival footage that is sometimes altered to reflect the changes in the alternate timeline.
The following is a list of characters that appeared on the television series.

Cast

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Main cast

Recurring cast

Main characters

Edward Baldwin

Portrayed by Joel Kinnaman

USN Rear Admiral Edward "Ed" Baldwin, an astronaut. He was the commander of Gemini 7, Apollo 10, Apollo 15, Apollo 22, Pathfinder and Phoenix. He was the husband of [|Karen Baldwin] and raised two children with her, Shane and [|Kelly], with the latter being adopted from Vietnam in the 1970s.
During Apollo 10, which was intended as a test run for Apollo 11, Ed and Gordo Stevens, his best friend and fellow astronaut, were only eight miles away from the Moon, but were instructed by NASA not to land. After the Soviets then landed on the Moon before Apollo 11, Ed and Gordo were widely criticised by the media, but Ed deflected the blame onto NASA, claiming that "NASA doesn't have guts anymore". He was then removed from Apollo 15 as a consequence of the interview, but was later reinstated as commander by Deke Slayton. At the same time, he also worked as an instructor and trained "Nixon's Women", a program that was started in response to the Soviets landing cosmonaut Anastasia Belikova on the Moon. Alongside Gordo and Danielle Poole, Ed was on the Moon with Apollo 22 when Apollo 23 exploded on the launchpad, extending their stay on the Moon until Apollo 24 would be ready. Ed is eventually left alone on the Moon after Gordo and Danielle are forced to return to Earth due to a medical emergency; the Soviets had their base only a few miles away from Jamestown, forcing someone to remain at Jamestown. In the meantime, Ed's son Shane had died in a car accident, which NASA decided to keep secret from Ed as they feared the news would have a major impact on his mental state along with the isolation. However, the Soviets leaked the news to him, after which he shuts off all communication with Earth. Shortly after, one of the Soviet cosmonauts, Mikhail Vasiliev, arrived at Jamestown and asked to be let in, as he did not have enough oxygen to return to his own base. Ed decided to trust him and obliged, however in the 1980s it is revealed that Vasiliev had placed a listening device in Jamestown. Vasiliev convinced Ed to answer NASA's calls and later helped him to prepare for the arrival of Apollo 24. The mission was a success and Ed returned to Earth while [|Ellen Wilson] takes over Jamestown.
By 1983, Ed had been promoted to rear admiral and worked as Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA. He then assigned himself as the commander of the Pathfinder mission, which was meant to escort the Sea Dragon resupply mission to Jamestown. During the mission, an incident occurred on the Moon where two of the Soviet cosmonauts were shot by US "moon marines". The Soviet Union declared a blockade on the Moon and threatened to shoot down Sea Dragon if they did not abort their mission. Ed threatened to fire back and destroy Buran, the Soviet shuttle, but Sally Ride, one of his crew members, refused to activate the weapon systems. He relieved her of her duties and she pulled a gun on him to force him back, but he ignored her threats and told her that he knows she won't shoot him. Ed activated the weapon systems but reconsidered Sally's warning that there must be another solution. He then decided to shoot down Sea Dragon himself, as to prevent the Soviets from committing an action of war by letting them destroy an American shuttle.
In 1992, Ed left NASA after not being selected as commander of the Mars mission. Instead he joined [|Helios Aerospace], a private space company, to command their Mars mission. He decided to take [|Danny] Stevens—Gordo's son—with him, despite the warnings Danielle warning him of Danny's instability. After reaching Mars, Ed and Danny attempted to land during a heavy dust storm. Being ahead of NASA's Sojourner–1, he now had the chance to become the first human on Mars, but after nearly hitting a mountain and looking at Danny beside him, he decided to abort the mission, unwilling to be responsible for Danny's death. His decision allowed Sojourner 1, led by Danielle, to land first. After a landslide destroyed most of Helios' equipment and killed multiple astronauts and cosmonauts, Helios, NASA, and Roscosmos banded together for a joint mission to return the survivors to Earth. Meanwhile, Ed's daughter Kelly had started an affair with cosmonaut Alexei Poletov, who died in the landslide, and got pregnant. After months of repairing their equipment, Kelly had to be brought on board the Phoenix, Helios' ship in the Mars orbit, as soon as possible to save the baby, but as they had not produced enough fuel yet, only Kelly alone could be sent to Phoenix. Ed and the remaining survivors decided to stay on Mars and wait for a rescue mission, while Kelly and the Phoenix flew back to Earth. Ed flew Kelly towards the Phoenix with the repaired Landing Module and then managed to crash-land the Module back on Mars.
Ed is based on Apollo 10 commander Thomas P. Stafford.

Gordo Stevens

Portrayed by Michael Dorman

USN Captain Gordon "Gordo" Stevens, an astronaut. He was the Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 10, the commander of Apollo 18 and a member of the Apollo 22 crew, also known as Jamestown 2, the second mission that stayed at Jamestown Moon Base and was later stationed on the Base again with Jamestown 91. He was the husband of [|Tracy Stevens] and had two sons with her, Danny and Jimmy.
Gordo flew with his best friend [|Ed Baldwin] for Apollo 10 and was criticised for not taking the opportunity to land on the Moon, which allowed the Soviets to come first. He was scheduled to fly with Ed again for Apollo 15, but was replaced by Molly Cobb and instated as commander of Apollo 18 again. Alongside Ed and also Danielle Poole, Gordo was on the Moon with Apollo 22, when the follow-up mission Apollo 23 exploded on the launchpad, extending their stay on the Moon until Apollo 24 would be ready. During their isolation Gordo suffered from extreme anxiety and hallucinations. The three first decided to keep his condition secret, as NASA would never allow him to fly again if they found out about his episodes of psychosis, but Ed decided to tell Houston the morning after another episode. In the same night, Danielle broke her own arm and they told NASA that it happened as an accident and that Danielle had to fly back to Earth for medical treatment. Gordo accompanied her as pilot, sparing him from him anyone finding out about his mental health problems, while Ed stayed on the Moon, as they could not leave Jamestown uncrewed. Back on Earth, he started seeing a psychologist and also told Tracy what really happened. Gordo later spoke to Danielle and told her that he wanted to reveal the truth to the whole world, that Danielle was the hero, not him, but Danielle told him that it would only ruin both their careers and to keep it secret.
By 1983, Gordo and Tracy had divorced and Gordo let himself go, believing that he would never fly again, but after seeing Ed and Danielle preparing for their missions, he pulled himself back and started working out with the goal to fly to the Moon again. He is eventually selected and returns to the Moon with Jamestown 91, where he also reunited with Tracy. When the Soviet cosmonauts attacked Jamestown to retrieve their captured comrade, Rolan Baranov, who had been shot and brought to Jamestown for medical treatment, Gordo and Tracy were in a chamber, talking about where their marriage went wrong, when they noticed that the inside of Jamestown was depressurized. Although the Soviets had blocked all communication to the Earth, the two managed to contact Houston via an older device from the original Jamestown Base. Margo Madison informed them that the reactor had been damaged and that there would be a nuclear meltdown soon if they did not activate the backup coolant systems. With no way to contact anyone else on Jamestown, the only way to prevent a meltdown was to activate the systems from outside. However, there were no spacesuits in chamber, forcing Gordo and Tracy to make impromptu spacesuits from duct tape, which would only protect them for a few seconds. They ran outside, turned the systems on and managed to reenter the chamber, but succumbed to their wounds caused by vacuum exposure. They were later found by the remaining astronauts on Jamestown and are posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.
Gordo is partially based on Apollo 10's lunar module pilot Eugene Cernan and on Mercury Seven astronaut Gordo Cooper.