A Glean movie guide
Hard Science: Realistic Space Movies
No sound in a vacuum.
From NASA history to physics-based sci-fi, these films prioritize scientific accuracy.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Martian
A survival story that treats botany and orbital mechanics as the ultimate problem-solving tools.
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
- 02
Apollo 13
A gripping, minute-by-minute recreation of NASA’s most famous "successful failure."
The true story of technical troubles that scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew, with the failed journey turning into a thrilling saga of heroism. Drifting more than 200,000 miles from Earth, the astronauts work furiously with the ground crew to avert tragedy.
- 03
2001: A Space Odyssey
A visionary masterpiece that accurately depicted the silence and physics of space travel.
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
- 04
Interstellar
A visually breathtaking epic grounded in the complex mathematics of black holes and time dilation.
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
- 05
First Man
A visceral look at the claustrophobic and dangerous mechanical reality of the early moon missions.
A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
- 06
Gravity
A relentless thriller that captures the terrifying physics of momentum and debris in Earth's orbit.
Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer, is on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The Shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone-tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness of space. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
- 07
The Right Stuff
An expansive chronicle of the test pilots who risked everything to pioneer American spaceflight.
At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.
- 08
Stowaway
A tense, small-scale drama focused entirely on the cold math of life support and resource management.
A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.
- 09
Europa Report
A documentary-style thriller that explores the plausible challenges of a mission to Jupiter.
A crew of international astronauts are sent on a private mission to Jupiter's fourth moon.
- 10
Moon
A grounded, industrial take on lunar mining that explores the psychological toll of isolation.
With only three weeks left in his three-year contract, Sam Bell is eager to return to Earth. Stationed alone at a Moon-based facility with his computer assistant GERTY, an unexpected accident sets off a series of unsettling events that shake his isolation.
- 11
Hidden Figures
A powerful tribute to the mathematicians whose orbital calculations made space travel possible.
The untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA and serving as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history – the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.
- 12
Contact
A cerebral exploration of first contact rooted in the actual procedures of radio astronomy.
A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.