After cosmonaut Anastasia Belikova lands on the Moon, NASA is tasked with recruiting female astronauts. Political pressure forces Deke Slayton to include Tracy Stevens, Gordo's wife, among the twenty astronaut candidates, or "ascans". Also among the ascans are Mercury 13
participants Molly Cobb and Patty Doyle and computer Danielle Poole.
This episode provides examples of:
- Allohistorical Allusion: Shortly before Thomas Paine comes into the meeting to announce Nixon's desire for a female astronaut, Deke Slayton and Gene Kranz are discussing repurposing a third stage of a Saturn V rocket for something tentatively called "Skylab".
- Cruel to Be Kind: Yes Deke will cut everyone who does not meet his rigorous standards, but a) those who are cut wouldn't have made the other parts of the training anyway and b) in Space everything is trying to kill you and there are no or very slight margins for error - letting people who are not the best of the best fly into space is asking for death and disaster - not to mention damage to irreplaceable equipment
- Chekhov's Skill: Subverted when Ed compares the lunar module simulator to a helicopter. You'd expect that Patty, a helicopter pilot who's at the top of the class, will have no problem operating it. Nope, she crashes and is Killed Offscreen.
- In the end, while Ed did compare the simulator to a helicopter, he immediately followed up by firmly clarifying that it was still very much not one, also foreshadowing Patty's error.
- The Cynic: Molly has no expectation that any of the female ascans will be selected, and frequently mocks the other candidates, especially Tracy.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Deke does not go easy on the candidates, though he's less abusive than the trope implies — think "firm but fair". This is Truth in Television.
- Epic Fail: During flight exercises with jet planes, one of the as-cans "porpoises" (comes in with too much speed and has to go around). Molly of course called it. Amazingly the as-can in question is not cut immediately but only a bit later.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He may come off rough but Deke is correct when someone complains that half the women won't make it through the desert survival course with all the weight on their back and he points out that if they can't make that, then they won't survive on the moon.
- Layman's Terms: When a NASA scientist is describing the benefits of the water they may have found on the moon, Thomas Paine cuts him off with an "English, please." Deke explains that liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen can be used to make rocket fuel.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Molly Cobb shares her surname with Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb, one of the real-life Mercury 13 participants and to whom the following episode, "Prime Crew", is dedicated.
Word of God says that her dress style is based in part on that of Amelia Earhart - Not in This for Your Revolution: Molly doesn't give a damn about becoming a feminist icon, and can't be bothered to read the fan mail being sent to NASA.
- No One Gets Left Behind: During desert survival training, Tracy finds Ellen in a crevasse, having sprained her ankle but refusing to call for help as that would disqualify her from the program. Tracy helps her to the finish line at the risk of failing the test herself, and they just barely make it. When called out on this by Deke, who had emphasized that it wasn't a team exercise, she bluntly says she couldn't leave Ellen behind, and she knows he wouldn't have either.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Molly gives Tracy a blistering one after the latter screws up a simulation, complaining that she's only there because she's married to Gordo and that she would have been cut long ago if that weren't the case.
- Token Minority: Deke initially assumes Danielle was added to the candidate pool purely because she's black. Turns out she is a capable pilot in her own right, has already worked at NASA as a "computer" (which means she is familiar with a lot of the math involved), is consistently above Tracy in the ranking, and is among the four finalists by the end of the episode.
