Based on Lily Koppel's book, this limited series tells the story of the women who were essential players behind big events in American history. As America's astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, the lives of their young wives were transformed from military spouses to American royalty. As their celebrity rose, and tragedy began to touch their lives, they rallied together.

On Oct. 4, 1957, the USSR announced to an unsuspecting world that it had launched the first man-made object ever to successfully orbit earth. Americans were stunned and then terrified. Americans asked themselves what had happened to our academic and technological superiority; could the Soviets overtake us; could their satellites be used as weapons of mass destruction? Recalls the impact the satellite had on the American psyche, and how the shock catapulted...