How For All Mankind's 1965 Flashback Connects To Real Spaceflight History
Before Apollo, there was Gemini.
Although the Apollo program is perhaps the most famous of the 1960s NASA spaceflights, there were two distinct phases and types of craft before Apollo: the Mercury program and then the Gemini program. In 1965, Gemini 7 flew near Gemini 6A, in what was the first successful and intentional rendezvous of two spacecraft, ever. Famously, Gemini 7 was flown by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. Lovell later became more famous in 1970 during his heroic efforts to bring Apollo 13 back to Earth. But, now, in the alternate history series For All Mankind, one Easter egg at the end of Season 5, episode 3, “Home,” reveals a twist on the famous Gemini 7 mission.
Here’s the meaning of that big Easter egg at the end of the show, how it fits into the show’s timeline, and echoes real spaceflight history too.
Major Spoilers ahead!
For All Mankind Season 5, Episode 3 Ending, Explained
Ed and Gordo on their way to fly Gemini 7.
As Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) passes away, succumbing to his cancer, we get a very sweet flashback of him and Gordo (Michael Dorman) walking down a hall at NASA on their way to fly the Gemini 7 mission. In the context of the show, this was Ed and Gordo’s first time in space, in the Season 1 episode “Into the Abyss.” There are a lot of Season 1 Easter eggs in this episode, but the deepest cut is probably when Ed grumbles, “You Russians love you some Elvis, don’t you?” which references Ed’s debate about Elvis Presley versus Frank Sinatra with the cosmonaut Mikhail in the Season 1 finale, “A City Upon a Hill.”
Just before he passes, Ed flashes back to 1965 and the Gemini 7 mission, and we get a bit more of his 1950s Korea flashback. And it's here in a blink-and-you’ll miss it moment that we see the dog tags for Ed’s slain fellow soldier, and we realize that man’s name was “Shane.” So, we know now that Ed named his son after a fallen comrade, which is doubly tragic since his son perished very young in Season 1.
But the final ending, as Ed and Gordo fly the Gemini 7 mission, actually references Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3. Gordo perished in the finale of Season 2, saving the Jamestown Moonbase from a meltdown. Karen, meanwhile, was slain in a bombing at the end of Season 3, and of course, Ed and Karen’s son, Shane, was lost in an accident in Season 1. So everyone that Ed sees in these final moments is no longer alive in the timeline of the show. This makes sense since, in a way, he’s on his way to join them.
How For All Mankind References Gemini 7
A photo of Gemini 7 from Gemini 6A in 1965.
While it's easy to assume that the divergence of the For All Mankind timeline happens in 1969, when the USSR lands on the Moon, just the existence of Ed and Gordo — who are not real historical figures — changes the real timeline. Having Ed and Gordo on Gemini 7 means that in the For All Mankind timeline, Borman and Lovell didn’t fly that mission. Did Ed and Gordo do a flyby with Gemini 6A? Like in our timeline? Maybe. The final shot of “Home” shows a Gemini capsule, floating peacefully in orbit, suggesting that maybe there’s some kind of rendezvous coming. (A plague that Alex glimpses right before the final flashback also confirms that this mission was Gemini 7.)
This could all be intended as symbolic, too. Ed is about to cross over into a place beyond life, which could be like a rendezvous with something in space. After all, the other word for space is: the heavens.
