With season 5 starting tomorrow, Alasdair Stuart concludes his recaps of For All Mankind…

It’s 2003, and Happy Valley has grown into a thriving mining community.

The next stage of growth is dependent on dragging an asteroid into orbit around Mars and Ed Baldwin, now in his early 70s, leads the mission. While the tech is sound, two astronauts are killed including Kuznetsov, Ed’s friend and one of the original Mars crew. Ed is crushed by the loss and notes he’s now experiencing hand tremors…

On Earth, Miles Dale, an unemployed oil rig worker, applies for a job on the Moon but opts for Mars instead. On Earth, the new NASA administrator asks Dani to be the new Happy Valley commander. She accepts. Margo uses the accident to try to gain more responsibility in the Soviet program, while Aleida and Kelly Baldwin decide to go into business for themselves. Ed and Dani clash on Mars, but begin to make changes that help the standard of living. Meanwhile Miles finds himself plugged into the Martian black market…

A coup attempt takes place in the USSR and Margo’s circumstances change once again. Kelly and Aleida pitch to Dev, and he agrees to help. Ed bonds with his pilot, Svetlana, after she helps when his tremors worsen. In return, she shows him her secret marijuana stash. Awww!

Miles introduce Lee Jung-Gil to the black marketeers and he asks them to smuggle his wife to Mars. Svetlana is returned to Earth to face trial after a brawl with a technician connected to the new Soviet government and tensions rise on both worlds. Miles attempts to set up a side business selling Mars rocks but is almost killed in an accident. Margo discovers the capture accident was caused by defective Roscosmos-produced bolts.

Goldilocks, an asteroid heading for Mars, is discovered to be loaded with priceless metals which will change the economy of whichever world gets to it first. The asteroid capture project is stood back up on Mars, on a brutally tight schedule. Dev returns to Mars with Kelly, leaving Aleida running Helios on Earth. Kelly decides to take her son with her. Ed’s tremors are finally seen and reported to Danielle. They clash once again and she effectively fires him. In a series of flashbacks, we also see Dani was the only one who visited Danny when he was exiled and found his body when he killed himself.

The Mars 7, the Earth group representing the seven nations on Mars, meet to discuss the asteroid capture. Margo and Aleida reunite at the conference, causing huge relief and even more tension. Miles gets locked out of the black market and works with the North Koreans to take it over once and for all. Ed incites a strike and both planets watch as Margo is formally re-introduced the world.

The first interplanetary strike in history lasts a week. Mago is flown to the US to finalise asteroid capture plans. NASA deputise former military crewmembers to break the strike while Dev offers concessions to the strikers, splitting them. Dev then approaches Ed with a pitch. They’re going to steal Goldilocks…

Ed, both the best and worst grandpa ever, looks after Kelly’s son Alex and ends up using him to replace a part at a moment crucial to the diversion to steal Goldilocks. Aleida, despite every instinct, helps Margo reunite with Sergei who sends her a coded message warning her not to return to Earth, because her new boss at Roscomos was Sergei’s old handler… Sergei is killed by the Russians and his death is framed as a suicide. Diplomatic relations on Happy Valley collapse as the asteroid capture nears and Miles is violently tortured by both the CIA and KGB.

Two asteroid capture missions begin, NASA’s and the secret second operation hidden inside it. Miles has no choice but to reveal the hijacker’s location but most of them escape when they’re raided. Margo and Aleida covertly sabotage Earth’s plans from Houston with Margo taking the fall to protect Aleida. As the hijack continues, Samantha Massey, one of Ed and Miles’ colleagues conducts a daring spacewalk to ensure the capture ship’s engines fire for long enough. This also leads to a wonderfully pulpy EVA fight where a thing you think will happen doesn’t and it’s so much cooler for that.

Miles is rescued and the discovery of what’s been done to him sparks a massive riot between security forces and workers. Ed and Dani both attempt to intervene but Dani is shot and badly wounded. Goldilocks arrives in orbit around Mars, the abuse of detainees is exposed, Margo’s former Roscosmos boss is investigated, and Lee’s wife arrives on Mars with a group of other North Korean refugees. Dani recovers and in our next flashforward, we arrive in 2012. Goldilocks is now home to an extensive mining operation. Its name is Kuznetsov Station.