# For All Mankind

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/for-all-mankind/

16 people recommended For All Mankind in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 16 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Fans praise its alternate-history space race and bittersweet, moving storytelling; a couple of critics call it soap opera in space with science as a prop.

Summary written by Claude from 18 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 15 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Alternate-history space race take (3 comments in the sample): "I like "For All Mankind" and its "Apollopunk" setting using the excuse of Russia beating the United States to first boots on the Moon" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46786772)) "a great alternate history show that imagines the N1 succeeding" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47186001)) "The show For All Mankind is a truly bittersweet look at how space exploration could have turned out differently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49718363))
- Often recommended alongside The Expanse (2 comments in the sample): "I've heard "The Expanse" and "For All Mankind" are supposed to be good TV shows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46923908)) "Project Hail Mary, For All Mankind, and many more" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46923778))
- Moving, emotional storytelling (2 comments in the sample): "movingly commemorated the fictional lead character Ed Baldwin's Apollo 10-like in-universe mission" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47725747)) "The first ten minutes of FAM hit me unexpectedly hard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48786662))

## Other TV series people recommend

- [Halt and Catch Fire](https://hackerapproved.com/p/halt-and-catch-fire/): 123 recommend, 35 mixed, 19 criticize
- [Babylon 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/babylon-5/): 52 recommend, 24 mixed, 16 criticize
- [Andor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/andor/): 45 recommend, 7 mixed, 5 criticize
- [Silicon Valley (TV series)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/silicon-valley/): 44 recommend, 7 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "For All Mankind", https://hackerapproved.com/p/for-all-mankind/ (16 recommend, 2 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.