According to Ronald D. Moore, the idea of the show came about during lunch with former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, when they discussed the possibility of an alternate history in which the Russians reached the moon before the Americans.
Gordo and Tracy Stevens are loosely based on Mercury 7 astronaut Gordo Cooper and his wife Trudy, who was a pilot.
In reality, the Apollo 10 lunar module was loaded with the same amount of fuel to simulate had it landed rather than the full requirement to land and take off. Also, the Apollo 10 module weighed less than that of Apollo 11. Gene Cernan is quoted as saying "A lot of people thought about the kind of people we were: 'Don't give those guys an opportunity to land, 'cause they might!' So the ascent module, the part we lifted off the lunar surface with, was short-fueled. The fuel tanks weren't full. So had we literally tried to land on the Moon, we couldn't have gotten off."
The logotype and insignia of NASA are slightly different from the real ones. Respectively: the two A letters are closed on the red fonts, and the white orbit is reversed to right on the logo.
In December 2020, ahead of the second season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.