An alternate history not only gives the opportunity to explore “What if?”, but also to incorporate inclusiveness in the expanded view.
 
Screenwriter/Producer Ron Moore brings us forward in this expanded and altered version of the past, circa 1969 to 1974. Set Decorator Dianna Freas SDSA notes that in this perspective, “Women and African Americans are beginning to be included at NASA and given the chance to be astronauts much earlier than actually occurred. We see the challenges experienced by gay and lesbian people at the time, especially at a government agency like NASA, and we delve into the story of a father and daughter who immigrate from Mexico in order for her to follow her dream to become involved in space exploration.”
 
Freas has had a long working relationship with Production Designer Dan Bishop starting with Independent films, such as Jim Jarmusch’s MYSTERY TRAIN and John Sayles’ CITY OF HOPE, PASSION FISH, and LONE STAR. The couple have also had a longstanding marriage, having met in the same master’s degree program in Set Design at NYU. They have easily translated their film-making experience into outstanding television work as well, including the pilot of THIS IS US and the pilot and first season of THE GOOD PLACE. 
 
Their creativity and collaborative spirit fit perfectly with the FOR ALL MANKIND production team, helmed by Showrunners Ron Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi.
It was crucial that their sets gave credibility to the interplay of fictional events and actual history. 
 
The personal spaces set the characters for us and offer back story. The NASA Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston takes us deeply into a reworking of the race to the moon, where the Cold War has been accelerated by the Soviets reaching the moon first. The race now is to establish a base...and find a keystone of life support & fuel-making...the evidence of water.
 

Dianna generously shares behind-the-scene details in the video here and the gallery above.
And describes each of the key sets below...
So, click on the video, scroll through the gallery and peruse the details that follow...
We know you’ll enjoy!
Karen Burg, 
Editor
 
 
Notes from Set Decorator Dianna Freas SDSA...
Baldwin house...
“Astronaut Ed Baldwin and his wife Karen are a more traditional and reserved couple, reflective of the era in which they were raised. We filmed the exterior, including the ‘Welcome Home Apollo 11 Crew’ large party scene in the backyard, at a Colonial Revival home (Mid-century- late 1940’s) in Pasadena.”
 
“Since the exterior has Colonial Revival architectural details, the set decoration incorporated Colonial maple pieces mixed with mid-century pieces and a few older items that may have been from Karen’sfamily, such as the small shelving unit next to the TV.”
 
“For the artwork, I chose mostly original mid-century pieces with period framing, traditional landscape paintings and floral and bird prints, which we rented from Omega Cinema Props and Hollywood Studio Gallery.”
 
“While the master bedroom had tan and red floral draperies and matching bedspread...a vintage set Draper Nancy Lai discovered at Sony Drapery, their son Shane’s bedroom was light blue with cowboy-themed curtains and bedspread.”
 
You can see the essence of the Baldwin house in the photo gallery above.
 

Stevens house...
Fellow astronaut Gordon/Gordo Stevens, and his wife Tracy, eventual astronaut (Spoiler alert!), and their sons Danny and Jimmy are good friends of the Baldwins. 
 
“Although the Stevens are the same age as the Baldwins, they are a more contemporary and fun-loving couple, so theirs is a Mid-Century Modern house. We shot the front exterior at a Mar Vista Tract House, one of the 52 Case Study houses Architect Gregory Ain designed and built in Mar Vista, CA in 1948. It gave us great bones to match for the interior we built on stage.”
 
“Whereas the Baldwins had the warm tones, oak paneled family room and knotty pine kitchen cabinets, the Stevens had white painted walls, light birch wood paneling on the fireplace wall, and a birch built-in bar and bookcase. The palette was pastel tones...light blue, gold, beige, with coral accents in the living room and tan and gold in the bedroom.”
 
“The living room was open, with large sectional couch, teak wall unit and side tables, a console TV with cabinet doors, hanging pendant light and sunburst clock on the fireplace wall. Buyer Ethan Goodwin came through time after time with period-perfect pieces.”
 
“The artwork was, again, more mid-century modern than the Baldwins, with period landscapes and still life paintings in late impressionistic style with stronger colors. There is a wall of photos highlighting Gordo’s career at NASA and a few of Tracy as a pilot.”
 
 
Cobb Apartment...
First American female astronaut Molly Cobb and her artist husband Wayne live in a top floor/attic apartment with a Bohemian counterculture vibe, a delightful surprise to viewers when we first encounter it! 
 
Dianna smiles, “I think it’s almost everyone’s favorite set! It’s packed with eclectic furnishings and décor, including a 1930s mohair sofa, mid-century lighting, ’60s ephemera and vintage elements, draped ceiling, plants, unique fabrics...lots of strong colors.” Very Haight-Ashbury.
 
“Wayne is a popular illustrator, so you’ll see rock music posters for the Vulcan Gas Company, a rock venue in Austin, and from Wolfgang’s for the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane at the Filmore Auditorium. This is his studio as well as their home, thus his painting accoutrement amidst rock life paraphernalia, plus his drawings, paintings, and illustrations.” [See gallery and video for a fun detail about his sketches!]
 

Wernher von Braun house...
The opposite, of course, is the very controlled space of the country’s leading rocket scientist. There is, however, a strong element of art.
Dianna points out, 
“Bold abstract paintings in the living room in black, white, and red convey Wernher von Braun’sspecific taste in art. I used original paintings as much as possible throughout the series. It makes such a difference, even and especially on camera. There is a scene where he is standing in front of his fireplace that has a painting with heavy brushstrokes, where you can see the depth of the paint on the canvas behind him. That adds to the realism that we’re trying to establish and maintain, as do multiple photographs that tell von Braun’s family history and his history with NASA. Graphic Designer Evan Regester replaced the real von Braun with our actor in many of the historical photos.”

 
Rosales shared apartment...
“Here, multiple Mexican immigrant families are living in the same apartment. There is a small communal kitchen and living space, beds separated by blankets and curtains. Octavio shares a small room in the apartment with his daughter Aleida.
Aleida is fascinated with the Apollo Missions. She creates a collage on the walls around her bed of discarded NASA photos, notes, and diagrams that her father brings her from the MSC where he is a janitor.”
 
 
Mission Control, NASA Manned Spaceflight Center, Houston...
“We replicated the Mission Control Room at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), which opened in 1963 in Houston, Texas. There was amazing collaboration between all departments.”
 
“For the MSC Admin section, the furniture was all mid-century modern, which complimented the partition system that Dan designed based on offices of the early ‘60s. The 14’ long conference room table was custom-made by Retro Office. It is an Eames design for Herman Miller, with a walnut veneer top and an aluminum base. The chairs are Pollock executive chairs by Knoll."

“All of the artwork, diagrams, flight manuals, and many of the maps, were found on the NASA website. It was an amazing resource for me because there are so many high-resolution photos available for download, and everything is in the public domain! I worked closely with our Graphic Designer Evan Regester in blowing up and cropping many of the images that I then had framed, which we used throughout the sets.”
 
“For the Mission Control set, original NASA consoles were rented from Cosmosphere, a space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas. Additional consoles were rented from Woody’s Electrical Props. The controls on the consoles were retrofitted to match the specific flight controllers’ stations for the Apollo flights. We used iPads for the monitors on the consoles, but we had the bezels and the curved screens vacuum formed out of plastic to make the screens look like they were CRT monitors.”
 
[For more fascinating details, click on the video above!]
 
 
Jamestown Base, US base on the moon...
[We did mention, alternative history!]
 
“The exterior was all visual effects, based on designs by the art department.
The interior was 20’ in diameter...the base contains 3 bunks, a galley, a head/shower, areas for communications, operations, fuel cells, and life support panels. A separate attached airlock is for suit storage and is the entry/exit point to the lunar surface.” [See gallery above.]
 
“The base has the feel of the spacecraft of the period, like the Command and Lunar Modules, very industrial with all wiring, structural components, and equipment exposed. Buyer John Bradley did an amazing job acquiring the technical set dressing for Jamestown, much of it from aviation salvage yards and electrical surplus stores. Every piece then had to be restored and retrofitted by set dressers before being installed. Leadman Mark Rodriguez and Gang Boss Mike Mestas set up a manufacturing operation to accomplish this. All of the storage bags, curtains, and bedding were custom-made by Universal Drapery, coordinated by Nancy Lai."

"Everything in the base was aged to look like it was covered in regolith, the soil from the lunar surface.”
 
“The mining site equipment used on the lunar surface, including work lights, and storage cases were shopped and constructed by the set decoration department. My talented set dressing crew was tasked with making the interior of the base and the mining site look as authentic as possible, and they really rose to the challenge.”
 
An amazing understatement! 
See the series!
 
 
 
Editor’s note...
Set Decorator Dianna Freas SDSA would like to acknowledge...
...My amazing crew, in particular:
Leadman Mark Rodriguez
Set Decoration Buyers John Bradley and Ethan Goodwin
Set Decoration Coordinator Silvia Donati
Set Decoration PA Snejana Goryaminskaya
Gang Bosses Mike Mestas and Mark Palmer, and the entire Swing Gang
On-Set Dresser Marcus Epps
Draper Nancy Ann Lai
 
...Also, the talented members of the Art Department, including Production Designer Dan Bishop, Supervising Art Director Jon Carlos, Art Director Erik Osusky, Graphic Designer Evan Regester and Art Department Coordinator Kama Hayes. It was a pleasure collaborating with them, and with Property Master Jaime Mengual and his team on the first Season of FOR ALL MANKIND.
 
...SDSA Business Members were invaluable resources for decorating the sets, especially:
Omega Cinema Props (Including Drapery Construction)
Sony Pictures Studios Property
Universal Studios Property (Including Drapery Construction)
Warner Bros. Studios Property
Air Designs
Alpha Companies Motion Picture Rentals
AMCO American Screen & Window Coverings
Faux Library Studio Props
Gold Room Props
Green Set
History for Hire
Hollywood Studio Gallery
Lennie Marvin’s Prop Heaven
Modernica Props
Norton Sales Aerospace Props
Playback Technologies
Practical Props
 
...Many thanks to these vendors as well:
Apex Electronics
Aviation Warehouse
Canvas Peddlar
Carole Fabrics
Cosmosphere
McMaster-Carr
Retro Office 
Wertz Brothers Furniture 
Woody’s Electrical Props
 
 

Baldwin house... Astronaut Ed Baldwin and his wife Karen [Joel Kinnaman, Shantel VanSanten] in their 1960s kitchen, complete with knotty pine cabinetry, open weave sheers and muted wallpaper...all in warm, comforting, earthy tones... Photo by Seth Gordon. Courtesy of Apple.

Baldwin house... Dianna points out, “The Baldwins are a very traditional couple. Since the exterior has Colonial Revival architectural details, the set decoration incorporated Colonial Maple furnishings mixed with a Mid-century couch and chair, and a few older pieces that may have been from Karen’s family, such as the small shelving unit next to the TV.” Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Cobb apartment... We are surprised to discover no-nonsense first American female Astronaut Molly Cobb living in such a Bohemian setting! However, her husband Wayne is a prolific 1960’s Rock poster artist, and their attic/loft apartment serves as his studio as well as their living space. [See article below for more!] A clawfoot bathtub is hidden behind the folding screen...note the small pedestal sink on the right. Dianna recalls, “We placed the bathroom aspects first then built the rest of the loft around them. Dan wanted it to be an explosion of color when you went in there. Draper Nancy Lai was able to find some beautiful period draperies from Omega Cinema Props, Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony—all strong and graphic greens & reds draperies. The 1930s mohair sofa is from Omega...” Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Cobb apartment, reverse view... This scene is so of the times, but again unexpected in the world of NASA and strait-laced astronauts...the draped ceiling, the leather pillow with patchwork trim from sari scraps...the slat wood and exposed brick... Dianna even had the window pull-shades made with each window having a different fabric. Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Cobb apartment, closer view... A closer look reveals the radiator tucked into the back, and the fabulous details of the period lamp in the foreground, which Buyer Ethan Goodwin discovered at Practical Props, shade intact! At center, we see Wayne’s workstation. The charcoal sketches are actually Dianna’s, she’s an artist as well. Click on the video for a great story about the sketches! Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Stevens house... Astronaut Gordo Stevens and his wife Tracy, a former pilot and eventual astronaut, are a contemporary and fun-loving couple with two young sons. Their home is Mid-century modern, fresh and open, inspired by the Gregory Ain house used as a location for the exterior. See article below for deep behind-the-scene details! Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Stevens house... Tracy Stevens consoles her son Danny... A large open space can become intimate. Sarah Jones, Mason Thames. Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Rosales shared apartment... Aleida Rosales [Olivia Trujillo] dreams of going into space. After her mother dies, she and her father immigrate from Mexico and he gets a job as a janitor at NASA’s MSC in hopes of not only providing for them, but somehow helping her fulfill her dream. Here, we find her in their tiny room in an apartment they share with other families. Curtains divide the spaces. The opposite wall begins to fill with scraps of memos, drawings, etc that her father brings from work...a collage of hope. Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Outpost bar... Dianna describes, “Built on stage, this is a casual meeting place for the astronauts and other locals, with dark paneling, pool table, juke box...a 1960’s Black & white TV is mounted next to the back bar, which is packed with aviation artifacts and photos, period postcards and business cards from Houston, and decorative liquor bottles. The decor incorporates memorabilia and photos of earlier test pilots and the Mercury and Gemini missions, as well as a many Texan elements... The armadillo on the bar holding a period beer bottle was a favorite!” Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Outpost bar... Ellen Waverly, Larry Wilson and Pam Horton quietly discuss how to deal with the politics of keeping their true sexual orientations secret in the repressive world of NASA... Jodi Balfour, Nate Corddry, Meghan Leathers. Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Administration Conference room, NASA Manned Spaceflight Center, Houston... NASA Administrator Harold Weisner interrogates Astronaut Ellen Waverly about rumors that she is a lesbian... Dianna reveals, “The 14’ long conference room table was custom-made by Retro Office. It is an Eames design for Herman Miller, with a walnut veneer top and an aluminum base. The chairs are Pollock executive chairs by Knoll. All of the windows in the admin offices had custom-made draperies with open weave, casement style fabrics...you see that everywhere in the ‘60s...” Jodi Balfour, Wallace Langham. Photo Courtesy of Apple.

Deke Slayton’s office, NASA Manned Spaceflight Center, Houston... NASA Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton is based on the real person, former astronaut and Chief of the Astronaut Office, responsible for NASA flight crew assignments. His office in the series projects the best of NASA... Photo Courtesy of Apple.