Kristen Stewart to play astronaut Sally Ride in 'The Challenger' TV series

Los Angeles: Hollywood actor Kristen Stewart is set to make her series debut with "The Challenger" from Amazon MGM Studios.

In the series, Stewart will essay the role of Sally Ride, the astronaut and physicist who became the first American woman to fly in space, reported entertainment news outlet Deadline.

Actor Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions developed and brought the project to Amblin and is executive producing with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners and Stewart's Nevermind production label.

"The Challenger" is based on "The New Guys", a book written by Meredith E Bagby, who partners with actor Kyra Sedgwick and Valerie Stadler in Big Swing. They are also executive producers.

The book traces the history of NASA’s 1978 class, the first to include women and people of colour.

Three years after her first space flight in 1983, things took a tragic turn when Ride became the only astronaut appointed to the Rogers Commission to investigate the deadly Challenger explosion. She died from cancer at age 61 in 2012.