Firefly's Adam Baldwin Starred In A Forgotten Sci-Fi Show About NASA Space Shuttle Astronauts

One of the most popular science fiction shows on streaming right now is "For All Mankind," an Apple TV series following NASA and the space race. It isn't the first to feature astronauts (or cosmonauts, in the case of the Soviets), just the most recent, but it might leave fans wanting more. If you take a look at '90s television, there is a forgotten sci-fi adventure drama starring Adam Baldwin of "Firefly" fame called "The Cape," which tried to faithfully replicate the work of those willing to go to space.

The syndicated series had just one season, following USAF Colonel Bull Eckert (Corbin Bernsen) and USAF Colonel Jack Riles (Baldwin) as they train at the Kennedy Space Center. Eckert is in charge of training those hoping to make the cut, and Riles has already been on four missions. The goal is to prepare astronauts for future missions, showing exactly what they go through in their personal and professional lives along the way. There were creative liberties taken with personal narratives, though some plots were based on real events.

While "For All Mankind" takes on a bit of an alternate history approach, looking at what might've happened had the space race gone differently, "The Cape" wanted to have a more truthful portrayal of an astronaut's work. A few different factors went into that, including a unique filming location and perfect production consultants. The series filmed on location in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center sits. This afforded them the opportunity to make "The Cape" in the actual spaces used by astronauts, with access to launch pads and buildings not typically available to the public. 

The team also worked to accurately replicate procedures. They were able to do this with help from two technical advisors: Buzz Aldrin and Bruce Melnick. Both are former astronauts, with Aldrin known for being part of the Apollo 11 team that walked on the Moon and Melnick being part of the first and only three-person spacewalk. The pair's expertise helped make "The Cape" more authentic with respect to the actual processes an astronaut learns and uses on a shuttle mission.