Top 10 Space Movies That Are Scientifically Accurate
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the movies that got science, technology, and/or space travel right. Which space movie made you feel smarter after you watched it? Let us know in the comments below.
#10: “Deep Impact” (1998)
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Although critics didn’t love this sci-fi drama about a massive comet on a collision course with Earth, scientists were seriously impressed by its commitment to realism. Experts praised the portrayal of the comet in particular, including its size and appearance. The movie’s physics are also surprisingly on point, from the impact and the megatsunamis it creates, to the extremely low gravity on the comet’s surface. Though it was a box office success, “Deep Impact” has since been overshadowed by Michael Bay’s more memorable but far less accurate “Armageddon,” which was released the same year. While it’s not super likely that a civilization-ending object will hit Earth in the near future, it’s not impossible either – just ask the dinosaurs.
#9: “Stowaway” (2021)
This movie might be set in space, but its science is firmly grounded in reality. In the not-too-distant future, a three-person mission to Mars discovers an accidental stowaway on their ship and finds themselves facing a terrible moral dilemma. They don’t have enough oxygen for a fourth person, and it’s too late to turn back to Earth. The crew attempts to use algae cultures to create more O2, which is a smart move, since the algae in our oceans produces way more oxygen than other plants. The use of centripetal force to create artificial gravity is also spot on, including the nauseating effects it would have on the passengers. The filmmakers consulted actual scientists and astronauts while writing the script, and their expertise really shows.
#8: “Woman in the Moon” (1929)
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This silent sci-fi was way ahead of its time. The film follows a businessman and a scientist who believe there may be gold on the moon, as they plan and execute an ambitious journey to prove their theory right. In real life, scientists have discovered that there actually is gold on the moon, but mining it with current technology would be too expensive to be worth the trouble. The movie also depicts the first “countdown to zero” prior to a launch, as well as a multi-stage rocket not so different from the ones used today. In fact, the rocket is so realistic, Germany banned the film because it was too similar to the long-range ballistic missiles they were secretly developing during World War II.
#7: “Gattaca” (1997)
Space is more of a backdrop than the focus of this movie, which takes place in a future where human genetic engineering is mainstream. Discrimination is technically illegal, but in practice there are two classes of people, with more opportunities for those who were artificially engineered. You might have noticed that this sounds a lot like our reality, with people’s DNA standing in for their race, gender, sexuality, and so on. Real geneticists have pointed out that with rapid advances in human gene sequencing, the technology of “Gattaca” might not be far away. The movie’s approach to privacy issues is also disturbingly prescient. We’re already dealing with questions around health insurance companies and employers having access to our genetic information.
#6: “Moon” (2009)
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Director Duncan Jones put a lot of work into making this movie as scientifically sound as possible, and it paid off. He even screened it for a group of NASA scientists, who were impressed with its accuracy. The film follows Sam, who’s been alone on the dark side of the moon for three years mining the isotope helium-3 – something NASA is really working on. Jones based the look of the lunar surface on real photographs from the Apollo missions and Japanese lunar orbiter. He even wanted the movie’s AI to be as realistic as possible, modeling it after an actual robotics project at MIT.
#5: “Contact” (1997)
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The brilliant science communicator Carl Sagan only wrote one fiction novel. More than ten years later, director Robert Zemeckis turned it into a brainy sci-fi film that explores what would happen if aliens from a distant world contacted Earth. How would an advanced alien intelligence communicate with humanity? Sagan theorized that they would have to use math – the only truly universal language. He was closely involved with the production of the film, which has been widely praised for its portrayal of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In fact, SETI.org described “Contact” as “more accurate in its depiction than any Hollywood film in history.”
#4: “WALL-E” (2008)
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Space is not healthy for humans. And we’re not just talking about the lack of oxygen. Real astronauts lose bone and muscle density every day they spend in microgravity. If they didn’t exercise regularly, they’d probably end up looking a lot like the pampered humans in “WALL-E.” The film also paints a grim picture of a future Earth, where pollution and garbage have made the planet unlivable. Considering that we’re dumping around 8 million tons of plastic into the ocean every year, the world depicted in “WALL-E” doesn’t seem that far-fetched.
#3: “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece came out over half a century ago, yet it looks and feels more realistic than many films made in the last few years. That’s partly because Kubrick insisted that his spacecraft be scientifically accurate, not just futuristic looking. A group of NASA engineers called “2001” “the most thoroughly and accurately researched film in screen history with respect to aerospace engineering.” They even designed a spaceship based on the movie’s ship “Discovery One.” The movie also depicts tablet computers, flat-screen TVs, and video chat. We’re just hoping Kubrick was wrong in his predictions about A.I. gone rogue.
#2: “Interstellar” (2014)
When you’re making a movie with a lot of heavy scientific concepts, it pays to bring in an expert. That’s why Christopher Nolan got Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne to consult on “Interstellar.” Reportedly, Thorne laid down some pretty strict guidelines when it came to the movie’s science. He was adamant that the screenplay didn’t violate the laws of physics, and that no matter how wild the story got, it would stay grounded in real possibilities. Although it is still science fiction, the film’s depictions of wormholes, relativity, and the curvature of space-time around a black hole won high praise from other scientists. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson marveled at the movie’s innovative portrayal of these complex scientific ideas.
#1: “The Martian” (2015)
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Have you noticed a pattern in our list? The most scientifically accurate movies are often the ones that rely on real scientists to get things right. NASA was a full collaborator in the making of “The Martian,” even promoting the movie on its website. From the nuclear-powered heater to the process Mark Watney uses to create water, a lot of the technology in this movie is 100% real. Even the gravity assist maneuver has actually been employed on real-life unmanned missions. We also have to give credit to the source material. Writer Andy Weir worked hard to make sure the science was sound in the original novel. “The Martian” is proof that you can make a great sci-fi that’s still totally realistic.
