Former Astronaut Reveals Which Space Movies Actually Get It Right

Science fiction has long been one of the most popular film genres. There are times when critics can find it difficult to assess some aspects of them: however knowledgeable a film critic may be about sci-fi movies and even the science behind them, very few, if any, have actually been to outer space. One astronaut turned politician is throwing his helmet in the ring: Senator Mark Kelly, a veteran of four space missions, has listed his three favorite space movies on social media.

Posting from his Twitter account, Kelly, who has represented Arizona in the Senate since 2020, had Ridley Scott‘s The Martian at the top of his list, describing it as “really a movie about how you use science and engineering to solve hard problems.” He found it was “not so much a space movie,” but an “engineering problem-solving movie.” He also praised the relationships between its crew, which “felt very real to me.” However, he did have one objection:

…the crew referring to the commander of the mission, the boss, as ‘Commander Lewis.’ That’s actually not how that works. You’re very close to your crew members, and, you know, it’s very informal.

Second on his list was Interstellar, another movie starring Jessica Chastain — but not necessarily because of her. He likes it “because of the physics involved, and just talking about time dilation, and how the faster you travel, and if you go into a deeper gravity well, that time goes by slower for you when time is passing at the same speed on Earth.” Kelly, whose twin brother, Scott Kelly, was also an astronaut, has a personal connection to the film, in relation to the famous “twin paradox” thought experiment used to explain general relativity by Albert Einstein:

…when my brother went into space for a year, and he’s got 520 days in space, I’ve got 54 over my four missions, time traveled slower for him. When I was born, I was six minutes older, and now I think the calculation that people did on the both of us is I’m now six minutes and 13 milliseconds older because of general relativity.

Thankfully, that extra 13 milliseconds isn’t as traumatic as the time shifts Matthew McConaughey undergoes in Interstellar, which results in him missing decades of his daughter’s life.

What Recent Science Fiction Movie Did Mark Kelly Love?

For his third choice, Kelly went with a more recent film, Project Hail Mary. He appreciated the “whole concept of alien civilizations, same problem, trying to fix this,” and enjoyed the “consequences and the complexity of it.” He did find the movie had “kind of a slow start,” but by the end he “really enjoyed it.” Kelly wasn’t alone: the film garnered a 94% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and has grossed $681 million USD worldwide and counting.

Kelly is the husband of former Representative Gabby Giffords, who was grievously injured in a mass shooting in 2011. The two became advocates for gun control, and in 2020 Kelly ran for and won the Arizona Senate seat vacated by the death of John McCain, which he has held ever since.

Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.