Although the race to the Moon and the domination of space were a major part of the tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, sometimes we tend to forget which aspects of our solar system were the biggest targets. While the U.S. was focused on the Moon in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Soviet Union had its eyes on the planet Venus. From 1961 to 1984, the U.S.S.R. maintained the Venera program, a series of uncrewed probes that journeyed to the planet Venus. Because of the extreme surface temperatures on Venus — generally 867 degrees Fahrenheit — landing human beings on the surface has never been a good idea. But what about putting humans in orbit of Venus? Every historian knows that humans have never orbited or visited Venus. But, what the TV series Star City suggests is: maybe we did, but in secret.
Spoilers ahead.
If you’re sleeping on Star City — the spinoff series to For All Mankind — you’re missing an excellent spy show, nestled inside of a great alternate timeline show, too. But just because the espionage aspect of Star City is super strong, it doesn’t mean there’s not some cool science fiction happening, too. And, in a smart combination of both plausible sci-fi and spycraft, the fifth episode of the show, “Bite Your Elbow,” depicts a crewed mission to Venus, happening in 1970, conducted completely in secret.
One of the central conceits of the For All Mankind timeline rests on the idea that the real-life Soviet spaceflight pioneer, Sergei Korolev, did not pass away in 1966. While not outright named Korolev in Star City, the character of the “Chief Designer,” as played by Rhys Ifans, is the driving force for spaceflight innovation and daring missions in this alternate timeline, in which Korolev, or his fictional proxy, is alive.
“We took a lot from the story of Korolev,” co-showrunner Matt Wolpert told Inverse before the launch of Star City. “Part of the idea was that the Chief Designer lives beyond when he died in real life. And that actually is the butterfly effect moment because so much of the Soviet space program was kind of corralled and driven by his genius and his persona and his force of will.”
So when it comes to the Venus mission that launches at the end of Episode 5, Star City is actually floating on one of the most realistic flexes of the For All Mankind timeline. Because the Chief Designer had so much influence and moxy, the idea that he would have pushed for a Venus mission, which was hidden from his superiors, does have a certain amount of plausibility. His endgame is somewhat obvious: At some point, the mission will be discovered, but because it will be such a huge win for the Soviet Union, they’ll have no choice but to reward him for his very insubordinate actions.
That said, we know from For All Mankind Seasons 1 and 2 that there are no reports of the U.S.S.R. sending humans to Venus. This suggests that even bigger twists are coming in the next few episodes of Star City. And those twists, almost certainly, will be based not just on the fact that the Venera missions continued in real life, but also on the twisty timeline that results in two Moonbases in 1973: one from NASA and the other from Roscosmos. The trip to Venus in Star City could be an endgame for the Chief Designer, but in the larger tapestry of the timeline of both shows, it might be a cosmic detour.
