Season 11 · Episode 9 · First aired 6 January 2013
Space Cadet
Episode 9 of Family Guy season 11 (S11E09), the 197th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Alex Carter and directed by Pete Michels. First broadcast on 6 January 2013.
Story
Chris overhears his family doubting his intelligence after a poor account of his schooling, and picks a NASA space camp when Peter and Lois offer him a camp of his choosing. He cannot settle there and asks to be collected. Showing his parents around a space shuttle before leaving, Stewie launches it and strands the family in orbit. Mission control loses the signal and Peter finishes off the radio while trying to mend it, so the Griffins attempt the landing themselves. Chris slows the shuttle using what he learned at camp, and when it starts to spin he lets the autopilot take over and steady it. They land safely and Chris is treated as the one who saved his family.
Production and reception
- It took a 3.6 rating and 7.26 million viewers, second on the Fox animation line-up that night behind The Simpsons on 8.97 million. Wikipedia, Space Cadet (Family Guy)
- The opening reworks the title sequence of Monty Python's Flying Circus, including the man who introduces it. Wikipedia, Space Cadet (Family Guy)
- After wrecking the shuttle radio, Peter has the family key in the Konami Code in the hope of unlimited lives. Wikipedia, Space Cadet (Family Guy)
- Principal Shepherd shows Peter a picture of Bob Belcher from Bob's Burgers that Chris had claimed as his own drawing. Wikipedia, Space Cadet (Family Guy)
- Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club graded it B-, writing that the title suited an instalment that lost its emotional thread under too many cutaways. Wikipedia, Space Cadet (Family Guy)
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| Mike Henry | Consuela |
| Gary Cole | Principal Shepherd |
| Mike Desilets | Chinese Peasant |
Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.
Guest voices
- Gary Cole as Principal Shepherd
- Nicole Sullivan as Female Fake Friend#2/Call Talking Women (Deleted Scenes)
- Fred Tatasciore as Asian Executive
- Brian Williams as himself, Brian Williams
- Uncredited in Deleted Scenes:
- John O'Hurley as Zardan
- Mae Whitman as Astronaut's Date
- Mike Henry as Consuela
Season 11: episode 9 of 22
- E1Into Fat Air
- E2Ratings Guy
- E3The Old Man and the Big 'C'
- E4Yug Ylimaf
- E5Joe's Revenge
- E6Lois Comes Out of Her Shell
- E7Friends Without Benefits
- E8Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
- E9Space CadetYou are here
- E10Brian's Play
- E11The Giggity Wife
- E12Valentine's Day in Quahog
- E13Chris Cross
- E14Call Girl
- E15Turban Cowboy
- E1612 and a Half Angry Men
- E17Bigfat
- E18Total Recall
- E19Save the Clam
- E20Farmer Guy
- E21Roads to Vegas
- E22No Country Club for Old Men
SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 11 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.
Provenance
Facts only- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
- Licence
- Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
- Note
- The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.