Chris Hadfield readies sitcom for launch

Yesterday (August 19), American television network ABC closed a deal to create a pilot based on Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s best-selling 2013 memoir, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.

Justin Halpern—creator of the sitcoms $#*! My Dad Says and Surviving Jack, both based on books he wrote—will executive produce and write the show. Hadfield will act as consulting producer.

Billed as a family comedy, the show will deal with the challenges an astronaut faces as he returns to earth and his family. No word on casting as of yet, but the main role will obviously require a healthy mustache.

Doubling down on space-related fare, ABC has also been producing a 10-episode miniseries of The Astronaut Wives Club, due in spring of 2015. Based on the non-fiction book by Lily Koppel, the series will outline the triumphs and travails of astronaut spouses during the 1960s heyday of the U.S. space program.

Hadfield’s new book, a photographic retrospective of his time on the International Space Station titled You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes, comes out in October.