Ed’s accident shakes things up considerably in the Baldwin household. Tracy struggles to adapt to life on Jamestown base. Gordo continues to try to rid himself of his one remaining fear as he gears up for his own upcoming mission.

So after the dramatic ending of last episode, with Ed baling out of his jet in the middle of the ocean, things are exciting here from the get go, focusing in on Karen getting the news that he’s missing over the phone and then having to spend a sleepless night waiting for further news. That experience shakes her into the realisation that perhaps she isn’t as ready for Ed to go back to space and for their daughter to join up as she had told herself she was.

Meanwhile back at NASA HQ, Ed and Gordo must account for their behaviour to new Head of Astronauts Mollie, and she’s not there to make friends with anybody, shocking Ed and Gordo as much as Margo and Thomas Paine with her attitude towards the whole affair. Mollie’s never taken any nonsense from anyone before and she’s not about to start.

The real meat of the episode though focuses on the parallel journeys of Gordo and Tracy. For Gordo’s part, he’s really motivated into taking his new opportunity to go back to space seriously, and he’s doing as much physical training as he can, getting fit and doing all his homework. The one thing he’s continuing to struggle with is feeling comfortable inside his helmet with the visor down, and he’s coming up with increasingly bizarre ways to try to address that, to the extent that even his sons notice something is amiss.

By comparison, Tracy is struggling up on the moon. Once the initial novelty of her arrival has worn off, it’s down to the drudgery of routine in an environment which lacks any of what she’s become used to – comforts, decent food, sleep and even an army of people swooning over her every word. It’s clear when she arrives that nobody is especially impressed by her as the big celebrity and her continuing to do television interviews, radio appearances and the like doesn’t help. When that’s combined with her lackadaisical approach to her duties and her tendency to look for shortcuts which blows up in her face, the contrast between her and Gordo’s energy and attitude to all this couldn’t be more pronounced.

Aside from this we also see Aleida return to NASA for the first time to start her new job, and Ellen meets up with a face from the past, which seems to bring out something in her that’s been quietly absent for a while. As the episode closes, it really does feel like all expectations are up in the air and all bets are off. Can Tracy turn things around? Can Gordo overcome his fears? Will the Baldwin family heal its differences? And most importantly of all, what will the presence of guns on the lunar surface do to international relations both up in the heavens and down on the world below?

Verdict: Things really are shaking up. 8/10

Greg D. Smith