NASA Goes from Red Planet to Red Carpet
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Matt Damon seen at Twentieth Century Fox 'The Martian' Premiere Gala at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. Eric Charbonneau/AP
The space agency has embraced the science fiction film in its push for further exploration of Mars.
"The Martian" recently premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is not only a big budget blockbuster; it's also great publicity for NASA.
At the film's premiere, in attendance alongside the film's stars Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain was NASA's Director of Planetary Science Jim Green, who worked as an adviser on the film, and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who met with Chastain to help her prepare for her role in the film.
"I'm really proud to represent you guys in a movie," Damon said of the space agency.
The film, based on the 2011 science fiction novel by Andy Weir, has been highly praised for its scientific accuracy.
"The movie depicts things that leverage a knowledge of Mars in major ways, and it's really exciting to see how one would live and work on Mars," Green said. "It's just around the corner, it's in our future. When we think of the future, we then can live it."
NASA has explored Mars for the past 50 years through space probes and rovers.
In the time since the novel was published, NASA's Curiosity rover discovered data about the soil and atmosphere that makes the events of the novel even more possible. With the upcoming InSight Mission and Mars 20/20 Rover Mission, it might not be too long before humans on Mars is more than science fiction.
To learn more, check out the videos below from NASA:
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