The space-based projects just keep on launching! Kristen Stewart will be buckling up for a simulated voyage into space for her upcoming Prime Video limited series playing Sally Ride, America’s first woman in orbit and a pivotal figure in the government’s Challenger Disaster investigation.
The series was first revealed in 2024, but it’s taken nearly two years for Amazon to officially greenlight the project. Created by series showrunner/executive producer Maggie Cohn (“The Staircase,” “American Crime Story”) and directed by James Hawes (“Slow Horses,” “Black Mirror”), “The Challenger” is adapted from Meredith E. Bagby’s “The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel.”
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Kristen Stewart in 2016’s “Personal Shopper” (Image credit: CG Cinéma)
The 2023 book that this series is based on centered around NASA’s barrier-busting 1978 class of astronauts, which included Sally Ride. “‘The Challenger’ tells the gripping story of one of the most defining moments in space history, both the unprecedented events leading up to the tragedy, and the shocking investigation that followed,” states the official Prime Video description.
“As the members of the 1986 Rogers Commission interrogate the complex inner workings of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to find what, or who, was responsible for the Challenger’s doomed fate, the show explores Commission member Sally Ride’s (Stewart) personal journey.”
On June 18, 1983, Dr. Sally Ride made history as a flight engineer aboard the space shuttle Challenger during the STS-7 mission that deployed a pair of satellites. Her second flight occurred on Oct. 5, 1984, on the STS-41G, where she and the crew conducted Earth observations for eight days. Ride sadly passed away July 23, 2012, at the age of 61, following a battle with a terminal illness.
Famed NASA astronaut Dr. Sally Ride in an official portrait (Image credit: NASA)
“Sally Ride’s courage and brilliance changed history, and we couldn’t imagine a more powerful actor to bring her story to life than Kristen Stewart,” said Peter Friedlander, head of global television for Amazon MGM Studios.
And it just wouldn’t be a 21st-century entertainment project without an entire platoon of additional executive producers.
“The Challenger’s” creative roll call also includes Kyra Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler for Big Swing Productions, Kristen Stewart, Dylan Meyer, and Maggie McLean under their Nevermind shingle, and Amblin Television’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.
There’s no projected release date for this one yet, but we’ll keep you posted.