Last night we said goodbye to our friends from the Astronaut Wives Club. For 10 weeks we have gotten to know Rene, Trudy, Annie, Betty, Jo, Louise & “Mother” Marge. As they have supported their husbands through the initial NASA launches we have also gotten to know some of the other wives who came in as the years went on.
We started out a show with each of the wives sharing their feelings about the current program and where they were currently in their lives during the Apollo missions. After they share their current status, we get to watch the Apollo 11 launch with the wives. None of the original Mercury 7 astronauts were on the Apollo 11 flight, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t celebrate together.
One of my favorite parts about this show has been the ability to see the show as it was filmed mixed in with original footage from the NASA launches. As the original footage is shown we watch.
Max, the journalist from Life who was around at the start of the show is back now making a documentary. The wives were all together as they watched Niel Armstrong take the first steps on the moon.
After reading the book The Astronaut Wives Club I really came to see the bond that each of the wives formed with each other. Betty Grissom is still heavily involved with her friends and was even gifted with Gus’s pin that went to the moon.
“We’re all different people now. We changed, and we changed each other. There’s no going back.” – Trudy Cooper
As per the book, the show ends with the Apollo missions. For awhile it was the end of the great space race. A number of the astronauts then moved onto different things.
The show ends with an update on each of the wives and where they ended up in live. They discuss the marriages, the divorces, the widows & the accomplishments that happened after the great space race.
“Of the 30 couples in the space programs, 7 marriages survived.”
It was kind of expected, but the show focused heavily on the main Mercury Seven wives. We didn’t see a final update on the other wives, but there were times while watching the show I was completely confused as to who was who so I was okay with that.
Book vs. Show
For the most part the show heavily followed the book. There were a few stories that the show had that the book did not. I’m not 100% sure which ones were true and which were not. One of the stories was the story of Louise and the journalist, Max. He was not mentioned in the book ever so I’m not sure how much truth there was to their “friendship”.
The story of Xavier on the show was also another story line that wasn’t mentioned in the book, but I loved watching play out on TV. I tried to find any truth to the story, but haven’t been able to find anything to confirm it.
Overall, I loved how closely the show followed along with the book. In so many book to movies or TV shows they wind up so different.
I’m going to miss the weekly episodes, but I understand how The Astronaut Wives Club could really only be a mini series. I already downloaded a copy on iTunes so I can go back and re-watach each of the episodes!
Did you watch The Astronaut Wives Club? Did you like it? Who was your favorite?
I’m glad to find another SPA who loved that show! I’ve realized that I just really love that decade as I’ve been mostly just watching this and American Dreams, which was also set in the 60s! I’m sad it’s over
Oh my gosh I LOVED American Dreams!!!!! I used to watch it every Sunday night when it was on TV! I think that is one of the reasons I was so hooked on this show too, very similar setup.
Oh wow! You make me wish I had been able to watch the show! My homework eats up all my evening time…maybe it will be binge-available on Netflix while I am on break! Thank you so much for linking up with me today for Friday Happy Hour! ♥
It is currently available on demand if you have it! I HIGHLY recommend it! Hopefully it will be on Netflix soon. I loved it so much I bought it on iTunes.