For All Mankind

What if the United States had not been first to the Moon? For All Mankind begins with that change and follows a space programme that cannot afford to declare the competition over. The result is an alternate history with room for both engineering problems and the people taking them home.

The missions work because preparation has consequences. Equipment, training and small decisions matter once help is a long way away. The family and workplace stories give the ambition a cost, even when some of the personal plotting becomes more melodramatic than the technical work.

Its long view is a substantial part of the appeal. A choice can alter careers, institutions and the next generation's expectations, rather than simply produce a cliffhanger. The series is optimistic about exploration without pretending that the people pursuing it agree or behave sensibly.

If you enjoyed the competing interests in The Expanse, this offers a nearer, alternate route into a spacefaring future. The fascination is watching a plausible starting change accumulate into a world unlike our own.