Hi, and welcome back to our coverage of For All Mankind and jumping into episode three, “Nixon’s Women.” After last week’s “twist” of Russia having a female astronaut rather than start on a lunar base President Nixon has to have a response. So let’s just jump right into it and see how it goes.
1. President’s Latest Mission
Since the Russians moved the goalpost, President Nixon decided to follow along and get a woman onto the moon as soon as possible. Deke Slayton, Director of flight crew operations, lays out the rules and regulations since it’s not only about putting a woman in the driver’s seat up to the moon. It’s about having someone qualified and prepared for all possible scenarios. Throughout the episode, Nixon’s plan of having an “attractive” woman go onto the moon for the cameras still comes into play. Still, Deke is resistant not because he doesn’t want a woman on the ship but because he knows how things can go deadly in a matter of seconds and wants them to be prepared. He does have a list of women with engineering and pilot backgrounds; it’s just about whether or not they’ll survive the astronaut training.
2. Tracy Stevens
Tracy Stevens is the wife of one of the astronauts named Gordon Stevens, and at the beginning of this episode, it is shown when they meet at an airbase, and she pretends not to know how to fly when the truth is she had 725 hours of flight time already. Since that time, however, they had got married, and she never pursued her dream of flying. President Nixon finds an article about the two of them and instantly wants her on the flight because she fits the “American girl” profile he wants when the cameras start to show. It’s not a tough decision for her to say yes, but she quickly realizes why she seems to get through some of the rounds of cuts despite her lack of knowledge or full grasp of what they are doing. She questions her abilities throughout it but continues to push forth, especially after getting called out by her husband. He doesn’t do it maliciously, but it was just a tough pill to swallow during a time of high stress and doubt.
3. Neighbors Are Talking
With the announcement that NASA would be looking into female astronaut candidates, the world was on watch, specifically Ed and Karen Baldwin. Ed is on the team helping train the women, so he’s indifferent because he’s stoked he’s back on the 15 mission. He also views them as deserving candidates because of their experience in flying and engineering backgrounds. From what we have seen, Karen takes a shocking turn as more angry and upset because she feels like it makes a mockery of what Ed has dedicated his life to and just letting women get in the mix. It’s a shock to the audience for her character because, in the previous episode, she’d helped convince Tracy to stay with her husband, and she seemed to have a strong bond with her. There is a tense scene between the two when it becomes clear to Tracy that Karen doesn’t have her back as she thought, but rather than get confrontational, she steps away and continues her training.
4. Desert Survival Training
This is the final big test of the episode where Tracy, and the other candidates, are dropped individually in the desert and forced to carry 40lbs of gear and 14 hours to reach the checkpoint east of their location. The heat plays a factor in Tracy’s struggle. Still, upon her trek, she stumbles upon another candidate with a severely sprained ankle who won’t radio help because it will be an automatic failure. They reach the base right as the time passes for their requirements, but Deke gives them both a pass given that Tracy was helping carry the other candidate, despite it being an individual assignment, but right after, he talks one-on-one with Tracy. He tries to get her to quit her own volition, but after a tough test, physically and mentally, she is more than fired up to keep going and make it to the moon.
5. National Impact
One of the biggest takeaways in this episode is this program’s national impact on young girls all around the country. After the cuts for the Desert Survival Training, some letters are pinned to a nearby wall for all of the astronaut candidates explaining what their opportunity means to them and pursuing their dreams. One of the older candidates is still cynical because she’s waiting for the rug to be pulled from her again, but the others take a moment to bask in it. It’s essential for Tracy because she knows it is about something much bigger than just her doubts and fears. This chance is about the next generation of young female pilots and engineers who hope to reach the stars alongside them.
