With the Russians having scored another first by putting a woman on the moon, Nixon decrees that NASA must recruit their own female astronaut. But if Deke Slayton is going to have women on the programme, he’s going to make sure they pass the same rigorous tests as the men, regardless of what the White House wants.

Departing ever more radically from history as we understand it (inevitably), episode 3 still contains enough kernels of truth to make it every bit as compelling as those which preceded it. Most impressive of all is the fact that the show doesn’t shy away from the reality of this episode’s central premise – women being put into space being an idea that wasn’t just going to be swallowed by everyone because sexism is real and in the late Sixties/early Seventies even more so – but also doesn’t make the mistake of having that be the central focus either. When Deke agrees reluctantly to the White House’s demand that a female astronaut be found, he does it on the proviso that it’s done his way, and that means finding candidates who can do the job rather than just pretty faces, and putting them through the same hell as every other candidate not because he wants them to fail, but because he doesn’t want to compromise the safety of anyone.

In fact what’s very interesting is that a lot of the objections to these ladies being part of the program aren’t coming from men, not even Gordo when his wife turns out to be one of the candidates selected. Tracy is revealed in a flashback to have been a pilot when she met Gordo, and nobody – herself included – is under much illusion as to why she’s there, but it’s impressive to see her punch against the expectations of everyone including her own peer group generally and its designated leader specifically.

Watching the inevitable winnowing down of the group of 20 candidates (colloquially referred to as AsCans, short for Astronaut Candidates) through various trials and tests is actually not as dull as it might sound, even if the way certain things shake out is to be expected. It’s certainly never less than compelling to watch, helped along by some great performances including Sonya Walger as Molly Cobb, the de-facto top candidate of the bunch and a previous star of the Mercury 13 programme in which Deke himself was involved, which had been quietly canned years before. Deke’s investment is obvious and real, the spirit of teamwork edged with competition among the group is palpable and the tension among the wives of the programme (one in particular) at the prospect is an unexpected twist. When tragedy inevitably strikes, it hits the viewer hard, and made this viewer in particular realise just how perched on the edge of his seat he’d been.

Verdict: Packed with drama, tension and just damned fine acting. Easily the best episode so far. 9/10

Greg D. Smith