For All Mankind: Remembering Gordo & Tracy Stevens' Heartbreaking Deaths In Season 2

Published Apr 22, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

For All Mankind season 5, episode 3, bid a fond farewell to Admiral Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman). Before he died of cancer at 81 years old, Ed was one of the last of For All Mankind season 1's generation of NASA astronauts who boldly went to space, and later gave the United States a permanent foothold on the moon.

Ed Baldwin's monumental death marked the end of For All Mankind's era of O.G. space pioneers, with only Danielle Poole (Krys Marshall) still alive from their generation of NASA astronauts. With each season jumping about a decade forward, For All Mankind has killed off or written out most of its original characters.

Yet the deaths of two of For All Mankind's earliest heroes remain particularly haunting.

I’m Still Not Over Tracy & Gordo’s Deaths In For All Mankind Season 2

Tracy and Gordo Stevens' heroic sacrifice in For All Mankind season 2's finale is still devastating to revisit. The formerly married couple gave up their lives to save NASA's Jamestown base from a nuclear meltdown in 1983. Gordo and Tracy's jerry-rigged 'space suits' couldn't protect them on the surface of the moon, and they died together after making it back through the airlock.

Gordo and Tracy were two of For All Mankind's most likable characters. Gordo may have been a promiscuous alcoholic at his worst, but he was also a charmer. Tracy was just outstanding; she was a good mother and a brave astronaut whose only flaws were breaking Jamestown's 'no smoking' rule. Tracy had remarried in For All Mankind season 2, but Gordo went to the moon to win her back.

After suffering a psychological breakdown from prolonged living on the moon and his fear of losing Tracy in For All Mankind season 1, we cheered Gordo on as he regained his mental and physical fitness to become an astronaut again. We also wanted Gordo and Tracy to reunite. For All Mankind gave us their reunion in a tragic and heart-wrenching way.

For All Mankind killing off Deke Slayton (Chris Bauer) at the end of season 1 was sad, and Karen Baldwin (Shantel VanSanten) and Molly Cobb's deaths via terrorist bombing in season 3's finale were devastating. Yet the way Gordo and Tracy died, while romantic in a way, was a loss that's still deeply felt because of how genuinely beloved and heroic they were.

Tracy & Gordo’s Deaths Still Impact For All Mankind In Season 5

The fallout of Gordo and Tracy Stevens' deaths still ripples forward into For All Mankind today. The direct result of the "Love in the Skies" couple's heroic sacrifice was how it severely impacted their sons, Danny (Casey W. Johnson) and Jimmy Stevens (David Chandler).

As young boys, both Danny and Jimmy were already troubled by their parents' fracturing marriage when they were left in Karen Baldwin's care in For All Mankind season 1. As adults, Danny and Jimmy remained problematic, and both morphed into different kinds of villains after they lost their parents.

In For All Mankind season 3, Danny remained romantically obsessed with Karen. Danny's deteriorating mental state and hatred of Ed Baldwin jeopardized NASA, the Soviet Union, and Helios Aerospace's Mars mission. Danny was ultimately banished from Happy Valley as punishment and committed suicide.

Meanwhile, the aimless and foolish Jimmy fell in with anti-NASA domestic terrorists. Jimmy was part of the Johnson Space Center bombing, and his last-minute crisis of conscience didn't come soon enough to save Karen's life. Both of Gordo and Tracy's sons became the opposite of their parents.

For All Mankind season 5 reintroduced Avery Jarrett (Ines Asserson), Danny Stevens' biological daughter. Now a young adult joining the Marines, Avery copes with Danny's sordid reputation, as well as anger and possible psychological issues she may have inherited.

Avery Jarrett's potential to go down the wrong path in For All Mankind can be traced past Danny to the deaths of her grandparents, Gordo and Tracy Stevens, before she was born. The Stevens line is laced with tragedy, but it also ensures that Tracy and Gordo are gone but never forgotten.