What would the sci fi genre be like in a world where the space race continued?

[CmdrShepN7]

Apple TV's "For All Mankind" has really inspired me and really got me thinking.

How would a continued space race have affected sci fi? Would we still see space adventures like "Babylon 5", "Farscape", "Firefly", "The Expanse", and the "Mass Effect" video games?


Would we still have the reality TV show craze of the 2010s? Or would advances in CGI made through a more advanced space program it would have been cheaper for the "Sci-Fi Channel" to make a successor to "Battlestar Galactica" once it ended? Would the "Syfy" of the 2010s of this alternate timeline have a lineup filled with real "sci fi" instead of reality TV, shark tornadoes, and ghost hunting crap? Would the "Sci-fi Channel" had have it's own streaming service like "Netflix", "Apple TV+", and "Disney Plus+"?

[Dalhousie]

We would probably have shows like CSI-Moon Base Alpha and the Bachelor/Bachelorette on Mars.  Maybe even EVA with/among the stars.....

[JulesVerneATV]

Scifi might have remained more founded in math and experience. I don't know if shows like Babylon-5 DS9 would exist, they seem to be somewhat politically inspired by the post Cold War era, as it was ending then politics opened up Reagan, Bush senior, Clinton, Shuttle with MIR then a Space Station Freedom idea and the ISS

modern scifi went back to t he StarWars less hard-scifi and Wonder Woman, Batman, Ironman, Thor superhero route, it could be argued Ironman and Batman are somewhat plausible
We are back to remakes of Superman or Dune and Planet of the Apes so maybe scifi hasn't moved that much
but then again 2001 has Africanus Stone talking with monkeys, a starchild an alien monolith giving sentience to a robot


Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke interview

[Jorge]

The Space Race was part of the Cold War. The Cold War ended when the USSR collapsed.

A continued Space Race therefore implies a continued USSR and Cold War.

Assuming the world survives another 3+ decades of Cold War, I'd assume SF would continue down the dystopian, cynical path it was on during the original Cold War.