“This is a nightmare”: astronauts share opinions about what mistakes Hollywood makes when shooting films about space

In which films and series is everything shown correctly? We asked the real astronauts.

Martian / Armageddon / Interstellar / Gravity



They say that no one will hear your scream in space, however, remove the sound effects from Star Wars and some of the magic of the movie will evaporate.



The film and television industry has never allowed facts to interfere with the presentation of a good story, but some points regarding outer space have particularly astounded the astronauts.

Bad

Which film did the best thing in the opinion of the Canadian Space Agency (CAC)? Armageddon (1998). Former CCA astronaut Robert Thirsk said that this epic film directed by Michael Bay is the most problematic of all. "They did little to convey to the audience the real possibilities of the space shuttle, as well as the consequences of the explosion in space of objects such as asteroids."



Another space veteran, Governor General Julie Payet said that it is impossible to launch two shuttles in a row into space, as shown in the film. CAC astronaut Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons simply said: “They have so much wrong there.”







Another film that did not satisfy the requests of the astronauts of the CAC was Gravity, which took seven Oscars.



In the film, where Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut flying off a space shuttle, stunning views. But the KKA astronaut Jeremy Hansen was not impressed by the way the Bullock character moved from one station to another.







“Just in order to move from the ISS to the Chinese station, you need to spend a huge amount of energy on changing orbits,” said Hansen. “This was done when the astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, and then returned to the space station.” “There isn’t so much energy in the space shuttle after going out into space.”



As for the stunning views in the film, Robert Tyrsk, who spent 204 days in space, said that the simulated picture of the Earth is not able to compete with the real one. But he approves of the way weightlessness was shown in the movies.



Jennifer Saydi-Gibbons, an engineer by training, was upset by the unrealistic spacecraft with an “unreliable power or fuel burning system.” In particular, she says that some ships from the Marvel universe, movies about superheroes, look a little stupid. “I think that not all vehicles flying in films about the Avengers could actually fly. Maybe they have some technologies that we don’t have, but when I look at them, I always think that something is wrong with them. ”

Good

In terms of the right thing, almost all Canadian astronauts praised the Martian with Matt Damon.







This survival story received the highest marks from Robert Thiersk, who said that most of the technology used by Damon’s character either exists or is under development, including “a dwelling for growing edible crops in space, a spacesuit that Matt Damon wore while going into space , or the all-terrain vehicle on which he rode the surface of the planet. "



A film with a less realistic view of space flights, which has received the approval of the astronauts, is a distorting reality of Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey. In the film, a team of researchers leaves the solar system to give humanity a second chance.







Astronaut Jeremy Hansen liked the way the film made him turn on his imagination and showed the effect of gravity on the passage of time. “It’s hard to even talk about such things today. Really makes you think. "



As a film that inspired him to become an astronaut, Robert Tyrsk calls the “Space Odyssey 2001”. He mentions a scene in which the shuttle docked with a circular space station. Tyrsk said that in this film it was shown that “the speed and speed of both vehicles needed to be perfectly combined” and that the rotating space station is ideal for creating a liveable environment.



If you talk with several NASA employees, their 1995 favorite Apollo 13 movie with Tom Hanks will be their favorite. Many employees appreciated how the film shows the difficulties faced by the team and the support of the control center.



In the film, Ed Harris played Gene Krantz, the flight director, with his iconic phrase “Failure is not an option” [Failure is not an option ”].







Flight Director Puja Jesrani is a modern Krantz, and today he is training a new generation of astronauts. She said that the night before the job interview, she was reviewing Apollo 13 to prepare.



But if you ask the 85-year-old Krantz about his favorite film about space, and he will say something completely different: " Silent Escape ." Bruce Dern plays an astronaut caring for a ship filled with leftover vegetation from Earth.



“The government has decided that it can no longer contain this project,” Krantz said. “They sent a command to the team to destroy everything.” And something in this situation really hit him.

From the last frontier to Mrs. Frizzle

A new generation of space explorers was inspired by completely different works. Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons was a fan of the animated series Magic School Bus . “Mrs. Frizzle is mine,” she said, blaming her love of science on this educational show.



Fighter pilot Jeremy Hansen, who decided to become an astronaut, calls the series “Star Trek” his inspiration, instilling in him the belief that humanity will be able to travel the universe, having acquired a way to travel faster than light. "The series gave me an idea of ​​how it might look and what kind of person I need to be in order to challenge similar difficulties."



But what other films were recommended by NASA and KKA experts for viewing:



Man on the Moon : A Personal Look at the Difficulties Astronaut Neil Armstrong Encountered by Ryan Gosling



Mission Control : a documentary available on Netflix.



Apollo 11 : A recently released documentary showing previously unreleased footage from the moon landing mission.



From Earth to the Moon : HBO's 1998 series, which is now restarting with new visual effects in HD.



Contact : A film about faith, science, and the search for extraterrestrial life with Jodie Foster.