The Astronaut Wives Club

The Astronaut Wives Club is a 2015 American period drama television series developed by Stephanie Savage for ABC. It is based on Lily Koppel's 2013 book of the same name. The series tells the story of the wives of the Mercury Seven – America's first group of astronauts – who together formed the Astronaut Wives Club. Actresses Dominique McElligott, Yvonne Strahovski, JoAnna Garcia, Erin Cummings, Azure Parsons, Zoe Boyle, and Odette Annable play the roles of the astronauts' wives.

The Astronaut Wives Club premiered on June 18, 2015. Following the completion of its run, the series' developer noted the series had been planned as a miniseries, telling a complete story. However, series creator Stephanie Savage revealed in an interview with Variety that the producers were interested in making the series an anthology in case it gained a renewal for a second season. Possible seasons would have featured wives of men in the 1920s, wives of World War II soldiers, wives of men who work on Wall Street, and wives of men in the 1980s, among other possible scenarios.

Main

 * JoAnna Garcia as Betty Grissom
 * Yvonne Strahovski as Rene Carpenter
 * Dominique McElligott as Louise Shepard
 * Odette Annable as Trudy Cooper
 * Erin Cummings as Marge Slayton
 * Azure Parsons as Annie Glenn
 * Zoe Boyle as Jo Schirra
 * Desmond Harrington as Alan Shepard
 * Bret Harrison as Gordon Cooper
 * Wilson Bethel as Scott Carpenter
 * Aaron McCusker as Wally Schirra
 * Kenneth Mitchell as Deke Slayton
 * Sam Reid as John Glenn
 * Joel Johnstone as Gus Grissom
 * Luke Kirby as Max Kaplan

Recurring

 * Evan Handler as Duncan "Dunk" Pringle
 * Matt Lanter as Ed White
 * Antonia Bernath as Susan Borman
 * Stella Allen as Alice Shepard
 * Madison Wolfe as Julie Shepard
 * Lorelei Gilbert as Candy Carpenter
 * Dana Gourrier as Antoinette Gibbs
 * Haley Strode as Jane Conrad
 * Holley Fain as Marilyn Lovell
 * Nora Zehetner as Marilyn See
 * Alexa Havins as Pat White
 * Ryan Doom as Donn F. Eisele

Production
The Astronaut Wives Club was originally scheduled to be broadcast during the 2013–14 American television season. On February 5, 2014, ABC officially ordered a limited series of ten episodes. It was expected to premiere on July 24, 2014, but was pushed to spring 2015 to undergo changes. It premiered on June 18, 2015.

Reception
The Astronaut Wives Club has received mixed reviews. Review aggregator site, Metacritic, has given the series a "mixed or average" score of 60 out of 100, based on 23 critics. On another review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 50% rating, based on 28 reviews. The critical consensus there reads: "The Astronaut Wives relies on poorly paced storylines and clichéd characters, both used in service of a fact-based narrative that would have been better served in a more serious context."