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How did the USSR win the space race to beat the US to the moon in Apple TV's new 'Star City'?

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An astronaut climbs along the outside of a cylindrical spacecraft above the moon.

The world just witnessed Artemis 2's inspiring loop around the moon and back and we’re all still enraptured by NASA’s triumphant effort to return humanity to our lone satellite. Now Apple TV is turning back the clock to those early pioneering days when America and the USSR were locked in a lunar sprint with a compelling trailer for its new "For All Mankind" spinoff series, "Star City."

Now entering its fifth season last month, "For All Mankind's" alt-history hit has presented a very different timeline where the Russians landed on the moon first in 1969, which spurred a furious catch-up policy that extended the Apollo missions far beyond 1972 and eventually on to Mars where the Happy Valley colony was established.

In real life of course, the United States touched down on lunar soil with NASA's Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969 with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin taking those first steps for all Mankind. This fresh trailer is a solemn look at Russia's super-secret space program as they fought to beat the Americans and maintain the necessary technological and psychological edge following their summer voyage to the moon.

"I take this step for my country, for my people, and for the Marxist-Leninist way of life," states a Soviet cosmonaut as his boots step onto the lunar regolith.

"Star City" will fuel its narrative by focusing on the Soviet's perspective of placing human's on the moon in the 1960s using all the perils, paranoia, and pitfalls that went into their historic landing within this fictional universe. Created by "For All Mankind's" Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert, this Russian-flavored, 8-episode series blasts off starting on May 29, 2026.

"Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of 'For All Mankind,'" said Wolpert and Nedivi for the series' 2024 announcement. "The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race."

a Soviet spacecraft above the lunar surface

The companion show's cast of Soviet cosmonauts, engineers, politicians, journalists, spies, scientists, and KGB operatives includes Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey, Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Josef Davies, and Priya Kansara.

Apple TV's "Star City" premieres globally with two episodes Friday, May 29, 2026 followed by new chapters each Friday through July 10.