For a while there, the space program was filling up Ron Livingston's life.

At work, he was starring in “Defying Gravity,” the astronaut drama that debuts Sunday on ABC. And at home, there were all those stories and specials about the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
“You realize how amazing those guys were,” Livingston said of the lunar astronauts. “Anything could go wrong; it would happen all the time and they'd just work there way through it.”
He also realized something else: Those real-life astronauts in the past were – at least in image – far from the fictional, future ones in his show.
“They were fighter jocks,” Livingston said of the original astronauts. Most were strong and silent; all were white and male.
The eight people in the “Defying Gravity” crew are different. Half are women, some are minorities, none hide behind a strong-silent mask.
Maddux Danner (Livingston), the ship's engineer, already carries a cloud, from a previous crisis. He also has a sexual or romantic history with some of women on the crew. “Our astronauts happen to be an attractive group,” Livingston said.
We meet them as a six-year space mission is getting ready to take off. The show also uses flashbacks to catch their training days.
“It's sort of a 'relationship mystery,'” Livingston said. “Half of the show is uncovering all the secrets.”
And yes, that's different from the days when the astronauts seemed uncomplicated and secret-free.
Growing up in Marion, Iowa, Livingston was only 2 when men landed on the moon. Still, the space program was part of his life; his dad was an aerospace engineer and kids pretended to be astronauts.
His own career strictly involved acting. Livingston went to Yale, started out in Chicago theater, then found TV. He starred in Fox's “Standoff” and had recurring roles in “The Practice” and “Sex and the City.”
Now comes “Defying Gravity,” with all those flash backs. For the actresses, that involves wigs and such; Livingston, by comparison, gets to play an unchanging guy.
“That's the advantage to being a 'mature actor,'” he said. “It's, 'give me a crew cut and I'm OK.'”