Hollywood actor Kristen Stewart is going to make her series debut in “The Challenger” from Amazon MGM Studios. In the series, Stewart will portray Sally Ride, the astronaut and physicist who became the first American woman to fly in space as reported by entertainment news outlet Deadline.
Actor Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions developed and brought the project to Amblin. The series is being executive produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners and Stewart’s Nevermind production label.
“The Challenger” is based on “The New Guys,” a book written by Meredith E. Bagby, who is partnering with actor Kyra Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler in Big Swing. They are also executive producers. The book depicts the history of NASA’s 1978 class, the first to include women and people of color.
Three years after her first space flight in 1983, Ride joined the Rogers Commission, the only astronaut appointed to investigate the deadly Challenger explosion. She passed away from cancer at the age of 61 in 2012.