'For All Mankind' sneak peek: Astronaut climbs to edge of space in a T-38 in 'And Here's to You'

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Push that envelope, Molly Cobb.

One of NASA's astronauts pushes the envelope on their jet aircraft in the new episode of "For All Mankind," airing Friday (April 9) on Apple TV+.

In a sneak-peek clip on YouTube from "And Here's To You" shows NASA's chief astronaut Molly Cobb (played by Sonya Walger) trying to get as close as she can to space in a high-altitude, high-performance jet.

Pushing the nose of her plane to near vertical, Cobb shouts encouragement as the engines push hard against the thin air. "Come on! Go for it! Go!" The jet moves higher and higher in the atmosphere until the black of space shows through the window.

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Cobb wistfully pushes her hand to the glass, taking in the view, as an error alert beeps in the jet cockpit. She gives a longing look up. Under her seat, the plane slowly tilts over and falls in the thin air, until Cobb gracefully picks up control and moves the jet back to a vertical position, engines firing normally.

Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base's control tower then crackles in Cobb's headphones. "You okay there, Molly? Your altitude just dropped 15,000 feet," the base radios below, from Texas.

"Roger that, Ellington ops, I'm good," Cobb says, slowly breathing deeply. "Everything's A-OK."

NASA's chief astronaut Molly Cobb (Sonya Walger) pushes her T-38 toward the edge of space in the "For All Mankind" episode "And Here's To You" on Apple TV+ on April 9, 2021. (Image credit: Courtesy of Apple)

You can learn more about Cobb's odd behavior in this episode by watching it on the streaming platform Apple TV+, which requires a subscription of $4.99/month. Season 1 and most of Season 2 are now available.

To learn more about how the show compares to real-life space history, we have a spoiler-free discussion of Season 2 on collectSPACE. More information (with spoilers) is available on Apple Podcast's "For All Mankind: The Official Podcast." The App Store also has an augmented reality experience called "For All Mankind: Time Capsule."

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Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.