A woman with short fair hair smiling at a premiere — Jodi Balfour, who played Ellen Waverly, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, weeks before the series premiered. GabboT · CC BY-SA 2.0

Apple TV+ · 2019– · Houston and Los Angeles

For All Mankind

What if the Soviets had landed first and the room in Houston never stopped working? The series built its own copy of that room on a Culver City stage. Poll the room

A woman with dark hair at a premiere backdrop — Sonya Walger, who played Molly Cobb, at the For All Mankind premiere in Westwood, October 2019. Grace.owens-stively · CC0

Flight director’s loop

Poll the room.

Before anything flies, the flight director calls each console in turn and each answers go or no-go. Here are eight real Apollo positions. Each one answers for a real place.

Flight: all stations, stand by for a go/no-go poll.

Go 0 · No-go 0 · Standing by 8

10202 West Washington Boulevard · Culver City

Stage 15.

The copy of Mission Control stood on the stage where the Yellow Brick Road ran up to the Emerald City in 1939. An actor who had been shown the last of that yellow paint as a boy came back for the series and found the floor under lunar regolith.

About Stage 15

A studio gate with a sign reading Sony Pictures Studios on a sunny street — The Culver Boulevard gate of Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, 2022. Stage 15 is inside the lot. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0

10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City

Stage 15, Sony Pictures Studios

Stage 15 on the old MGM lot, now run by Sony Pictures, held the series’ Mission Control. In 1939 the same stage had held the Yellow Brick Road up to the Emerald City.

Patrick Labyorteaux, who played Congressman Willie Baron in a third-season episode, walked over to Stage 15 after his day’s filming and found what looked like lunar regolith all over it.

As a boy on Little House on the Prairie he had been shown a patch of yellow paint on that floor by Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow, when a furnace was taken out.

The technical adviser Garrett Reisman praised the Mission Control set for matching the 1969 room down to the door hinges, the paint colour and the pens on the desks.

One of the wrenches used on set was a real one from an Apollo mission.

Smaller Moon surfaces of regolith, boulders and gravel were built at Sony in Culver City, ringed with black rather than green or blue, and lit by a single 100K lamp: the sun never moved.

The two-hour walking tour runs Monday to Friday, by reservation, for $55 a person, and visits stages once home to The Wizard of Oz.

A working lot. The studio’s guided walking tour (booked ahead, ages 12 and up) goes inside; the streets round it are public.

Cleared sources

A low cream-coloured airport terminal building under a blue sky — Long Beach Airport’s terminal, 2014. The former Boeing warehouse where the larger Moon set stood was near the airport; its exact building is not named. DearEdward · CC BY 2.0

Near Long Beach Airport, Long Beach (building not named)

The Boeing warehouse, Long Beach

For season two the bigger Moon was built in an old Boeing aircraft factory and repair warehouse in Long Beach, large enough to park a 747 inside.

It was big enough to drive rovers and let the astronauts run; season one had been held back by the size of its set.

Morning mist, exhaust from the airport next door and smoke from wildfires hazed the air inside, and had to be cleaned out of the shots afterwards.

The Moon exteriors were shot at 32 frames a second, which the VFX supervisor Jay Redd called the secret sauce, with wires to take away five-sixths of the actors’ weight.

The building is not named in the sources, so it is not on the map. Long Beach Airport is a public airport.

Cleared sources

Overcrank.

The Moon exteriors were shot at 32 frames a second and played back at the normal 24, so every step drifts a little longer. Switch the camera and watch the hop.

Shot at 24: a step takes as long as it took.

Johnson Space Center · Houston

The room it copied.

The real Apollo room reopened on 28 June 2019, restored to the first landing, four months before the series went to air. It is 2,250 km (1,400 miles) from Stage 15.

Rows of two-tone green Mission Control consoles with papers, headsets and ashtrays on the desks — The restored Apollo Mission Operations Control Room at Johnson Space Center, Houston, photographed by NASA on 26 June 2019, two days before it reopened: consoles laid out with documents and personal items. NASA · Public domain

FIDO · Flight dynamics

Third floor, Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, Johnson Space Center, Houston

Historic Mission Control, Johnson Space Center

The Apollo-era Mission Operations Control Room, a National Historic Landmark since 1985, was restored to look as it did when astronauts first walked on the Moon, and reopened on 28 June 2019.

It sits on the third floor of the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center and was last used for the shuttle mission STS-53 in 1992.

The consoles, two-tone green metal cabinets, were original to Apollo; most of the rest dated from later programmes.

Visitors sit in the glassed-in gallery where the astronauts’ families watched in 1969, while the consoles and screens replay the first landing.

NASA photographed the restored consoles, set with papers and personal items, on 26 June 2019, months before the series’ copy of the room went to air.

On a working NASA site: you reach it on the NASA tram tour from Space Center Houston.

Cleared sources

A wide view of a space museum building and plaza in Houston — Space Center Houston, the official visitor centre of Johnson Space Center, photographed in May 2025 (date from the file title; the camera data reads 2026). Oleg Yunakov · CC BY-SA 4.0

NETWORK · Ground stations

1601 East NASA Parkway, Houston

Space Center Houston

It is the official visitor centre of Johnson Space Center and runs the tram tours that take the public to the historic Mission Control.

As a separate not-for-profit it led the campaign to raise the $5 million for the restoration, $3.5 million of it from the city of Webster.

It opened in 1992 and became a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2014; among its flown capsules is Apollo 17’s command module America.

Its address is 1601 East NASA Parkway, Houston.

A museum with a ticket; the NASA tram tours to Mission Control leave from here.

Cleared sources

Space Center Houston

Space Center Houston and the NASA tram

Houston

The museum at 1601 East NASA Parkway, and the NASA tram tours that take visitors up to the restored Historic Mission Control.

Plan a visit

Space Center Houston

Hotels near Space Center Houston

Houston

The visitor centre’s own hotel finder for stays near 1601 East NASA Parkway, where the tram to Mission Control leaves.

Find a hotel

Surgeon · the crew

Surgeon is no-go: the astronauts’ bar is gone.

Karen Baldwin’s Outpost carries the name of a real bar just down the road from Johnson Space Center, where the NASA crowd drank for three decades. It closed in January 2010 and burned down that October.

A low brick civic building with a flagpole in Webster, Texas — Webster City Hall, 2010: the city near Johnson Space Center where the Outpost Tavern stood. A nearby view; the bar itself is gone. nsaum75 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Webster, Texas, near NASA Parkway (gone)

The Outpost Tavern, Webster

In the series Karen Baldwin owns the Outpost Tavern.

The real Outpost stood just down the road from Johnson Space Center in Webster and served the NASA crowd for three decades, its walls lined with astronaut-signed photographs, posters and decals.

It began as a Second World War barracks at Ellington, moved in 1965 to be a barbecue shack, became Fort Terry’s The Universal Joint, and opened as the Outpost the year after it was sold in 1980.

Disney’s Rocketman filmed a scene there in 1997; Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones came for Space Cowboys three years later.

It closed in January 2010, and the empty building was destroyed by fire in October that year.

Burned down in 2010. There is nothing to visit, so it is not on the map; Webster is a short drive from Johnson Space Center.

Cleared sources

2018–2026

Who made it.

Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi created it. The idea came up over lunch between Moore and the former astronaut Garrett Reisman, who became its technical adviser. Moore had made Battlestar Galactica in Vancouver before this; its World shows where.

Cleared sources

Ronald D. Moore, co-creator, speaking in Anaheim in March 2025, while the fifth season was in the works. Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ronald D. MooreCo-creator · 2025
Garrett Reisman in his NASA astronaut portrait, 2004. Years later, over lunch with Ronald D. Moore, the idea for the series came up; he became its technical adviser. NASA · Public domain
Garrett ReismanTechnical adviser · 2004
Joel Kinnaman, who played Ed Baldwin, at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, five years before filming began (the latest good free photograph). Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Joel KinnamanEd Baldwin · 2013
Shantel VanSanten, who played Karen Baldwin, at GalaxyCon Richmond in March 2022, between the second and third seasons. Super Festivals · CC BY 2.0
Shantel VanSantenKaren Baldwin · 2022
Jodi Balfour, who played Ellen Waverly, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, weeks before the series premiered. GabboT · CC BY-SA 2.0
Jodi BalfourEllen Waverly · 2019
Sonya Walger, who played Molly Cobb, at the For All Mankind premiere in Westwood, October 2019. Grace.owens-stively · CC0
Sonya WalgerMolly Cobb · 2019

A Spanish Revival cinema with a tall white tower and a blue marquee — The Village Theater (the Fox Theater, Westwood Village) with its white tower, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2005. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain

PAO · Public affairs

961 Broxton Avenue, Westwood Village, Los Angeles

Village Theater, Westwood

Apple premiered the series at the Regency Village Theater in Westwood in October 2019.

A photograph from the night shows Jodi Balfour, Joel Kinnaman, Sarah Jones, Michael Dorman, Wrenn Schmidt and Shantel VanSanten together.

Sonya Walger, who played Molly Cobb, was photographed at the premiere.

The first three episodes went out on Apple TV+ on 1 November 2019, with one a week after that.

A working cinema; buy a ticket to go in. The tower and marquee are on the street.

Cleared sources

Aug 2018Filming starts in Los Angeles
1 Nov 2019Season one premieres
19 Feb 2021Season two
10 Jun 2022Season three
10 Nov 2023Season four
27 Mar 2026Season five

Hutchinson · Merritt Island

Kansas and Florida.

A museum workshop in Kansas restored the real consoles and made replicas for the series. In Florida, the Saturn V hall stands for the rocket that carried the plaque the series is named after, 1,910 km (1,190 miles) away.

A museum entrance hall with spacecraft displays — The entrance to the Hall of Space museum at the Cosmosphere, Hutchinson, Kansas, 2013. Patrick Pelletier · CC BY-SA 3.0

EECOM · Systems

1100 North Plum Street, Hutchinson, Kansas

The Cosmosphere

Its SpaceWorks shop made replicas for For All Mankind, and for the 2019 film First Man.

In 2019 the same shop restored original consoles from the Mission Operations Control Room in Houston.

The restored Apollo 13 command module, Odyssey, is on show.

It holds the largest collection of Russian space artefacts outside Moscow.

A museum with a ticket. Open Wednesday to Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday.

Cleared sources

A huge white rocket stage lying horizontally in a long museum hall — The Saturn V in the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, December 2024. Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0

BOOSTER · The rocket

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida

Apollo/Saturn V Center, Kennedy Space Center

The series takes its title from the plaque Apollo 11 left on the Moon, which ends: “We came in peace for all mankind.”

Apollo 11’s Saturn V left the Vehicle Assembly Building on 20 May 1969 for Launch Pad 39A.

The bus tour included with Visitor Complex admission takes in the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center.

A one-day adult ticket is $77 (ages 12 and up), a child’s $67.

Reached by the bus tour included with Visitor Complex admission.

Cleared sources

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Florida · Adult $77 (12+) · Child $67 (3–11)

One-day admission includes the bus tour behind the gates to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.

Buy admission

Cosmosphere

The Cosmosphere

Kansas

The Hall of Space at 1100 North Plum Street, Hutchinson, with Apollo 13’s Odyssey. Open Wednesday to Sunday.

Plan a visit

Go there.

Showing each place by its real name.

Where it is now

6 places you can visit: 2 in Los Angeles, 2 in Houston and 2 in Kansas and Florida. The Long Beach warehouse is not named and the Outpost is gone, so both are listed here and left off the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

Site reference · Restricted access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working lot. The studio’s guided walking tour (booked ahead, ages 12 and up) goes inside; the streets round it are public.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working cinema; buy a ticket to go in. The tower and marquee are on the street.

The Culver Boulevard gate of Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, 2022. Stage 15 is inside the lot. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Stage 15, Sony Pictures Studios
Stage 15 on the old MGM lot, now run by Sony Pictures, held the series’ Mission Control. In 1939 the same stage had held the Yellow Brick Road up to the Emerald City.
A working lot. The studio’s guided walking tour (booked ahead, ages 12 and up) goes inside; the streets round it are public.
Cleared sources
The Village Theater (the Fox Theater, Westwood Village) with its white tower, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2005. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain
961 Broxton Avenue, Westwood Village, Los Angeles
Village Theater, Westwood
Apple premiered the series at the Regency Village Theater in Westwood in October 2019.
A working cinema; buy a ticket to go in. The tower and marquee are on the street.
Cleared sources

Sony Pictures Studios

Sony Pictures Studio Tour

Culver City · $55 per person

A two-hour guided walking tour of the Culver City lot, visiting stages once home to The Wizard of Oz. Monday to Friday, by reservation, ages 12 and up.

Book the tour

Stay

Near the tram.

Hotels near Space Center Houston, from the centre’s own finder.

Space Center Houston

Hotels near Space Center Houston

Houston

The visitor centre’s own hotel finder for stays near 1601 East NASA Parkway, where the tram to Mission Control leaves.

Find a hotel

Go there

The stage, the room and the rocket.

The Sony studio tour, the tram to Mission Control, the Saturn V hall and the Cosmosphere.

Sony Pictures Studios

Sony Pictures Studio Tour

Culver City · $55 per person

A two-hour guided walking tour of the Culver City lot, visiting stages once home to The Wizard of Oz. Monday to Friday, by reservation, ages 12 and up.

Book the tour

Space Center Houston

Space Center Houston and the NASA tram

Houston

The museum at 1601 East NASA Parkway, and the NASA tram tours that take visitors up to the restored Historic Mission Control.

Plan a visit

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Florida · Adult $77 (12+) · Child $67 (3–11)

One-day admission includes the bus tour behind the gates to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.

Buy admission

Cosmosphere

The Cosmosphere

Kansas

The Hall of Space at 1100 North Plum Street, Hutchinson, with Apollo 13’s Odyssey. Open Wednesday to Sunday.

Plan a visit

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Houston tours to Space Center Houston

Houston

Live marketplace results for day trips from Houston to Space Center Houston. Check each itinerary for the NASA tram.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

Nothing dated yet.

No current dated events are listed for these places.

No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.

Take it home

From the real room.

A memoir by one of the Apollo flight directors.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Failure Is Not an Option

Gene Kranz · Simon & Schuster

A memoir of Mission Control by one of its Apollo flight directors (Simon & Schuster, 2000).

Find the book

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The full flight plan

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

Search places and stories What remains Sort

8 of 8 places · 8 of 8 stories

Stage 15, Sony Pictures Studios
10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City
- Mission Control on Stage 15
  A copy of the 1969 Mission Control is built on the stage where the Yellow Brick Road once ran.
The Boeing warehouse, Long Beach
Near Long Beach Airport, Long Beach (building not named)
- A bigger Moon
  A Moon big enough for rovers, in a Boeing warehouse beside the airport.
Village Theater, Westwood
961 Broxton Avenue, Westwood Village, Los Angeles
- The premiere
  Apple premieres the series in Westwood.
Historic Mission Control, Johnson Space Center
Third floor, Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, Johnson Space Center, Houston
- The room it copied
  The real Apollo control room, restored the same year the series went to air.
Space Center Houston
1601 East NASA Parkway, Houston
- The tram to Mission Control
  The visitor centre that paid for the restoration and takes the public up to the room.
The Outpost Tavern, Webster
Webster, Texas, near NASA Parkway (gone)
- The Outpost
  The real astronaut bar whose name Karen Baldwin’s tavern carries.
The Cosmosphere
1100 North Plum Street, Hutchinson, Kansas
- Replicas from Kansas
  A museum workshop that restored the real consoles and made replicas for the series.
Apollo/Saturn V Center, Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida
- For all mankind
  Apollo 11 leaves Florida carrying the plaque that gave the series its name.

For All Mankind

Poll the room.