Hollywood star portrays the life of a space pioneer

Actress Kristen Stewart will play Dr. Sally Ride, America's first female astronaut. The limited series 'The Challenger' produced by Amazon Prime Video has received official production approval about two years after its first announcement in 2024.

Maggie Cohn serves as executive producer and showrunner for this series, and director James Horse, known for 'Slow Horses' and 'Black Mirror', is in charge of directing. The original work is Meredith E. Bagby's 2023 book, 'The New Guys: Historic Astronaut Riders Who Broke Down Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel.'

Challenger disaster and Sally Ride’s role

The series covers the most tragic moment in American space history, the Challenger explosion in 1986, and the shocking investigation that followed. In particular, it focuses on the personal journey of Sally Ride, who participated as a member of the Rogers Committee formed to determine the cause of the accident.

Dr. Sally Ride made history as the first American female astronaut when she served as a flight engineer on the Challenger STS-7 mission on June 18, 1983. At that time, the mission succeeded in deploying two satellites, and in October 1984, it embarked on its second spaceflight with the STS-41G mission and conducted Earth observations for eight days. Dr. Ride passed away on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61.

Highlighting NASA’s history of diversity

The 1978 NASA astronaut roster highlighted in the original book was a groundbreaking selection that included a large number of women and racial minorities for the first time in the history of the U.S. space program. These riders, including Sally Ride, were instrumental in fundamentally changing NASA's culture.

“Sally Ride’s courage and extraordinary talent changed history,” said Peter Friedlander, head of global television at Amazon MGM Studios. “I couldn’t imagine a more powerful choice than Kristen Stewart to bring her story to life.”

Stewart gained global fame through the 'Twilight' series, and has since been recognized for his acting skills in various genres, including the psychological thriller 'Personal Shopper' and the science fiction film 'Underwater'.

The production team includes Kyra Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler (Big Swing Productions), Stewart and Dylan Meyer (Nevermind), and Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television. The exact release schedule has not yet been announced.