The Astronaut Wives Club: The women who stood by their spacemen

ABC Astronaut Wives Club

ABC Astronaut Wives Club

With the number of delays and creative changes ABC’s The Astronaut Wives Club has seen, one would think the producers were actually trying to land men on the moon instead of making a TV drama about the wives of the men who did. Originally planned to launch summer 2014, the show went back to the drawing board and all systems are go for a June 18 liftoff on ABC at 8pm ET/PT. Based on Lily Koppel’s book, the series follows seven military wives who became overnight celebrities when their husbands were chosen in the late 1950s for the Mercury space missions. Among the Space Race spouses are Betty Grissom (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Rene Carpenter (Yvonne Strahovski), Louise Shepard (Dominique McElligott) and Annie Glenn (Azure Parsons). These women forged a unique bond as the stress of being in the public eye was compounded by the stress of their husbands’ dangerous work. Many of their marriages didn’t survive the emotional toll.

Photo: Credit: Bob D’Amico/ABC

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Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.