It’s been a big year for astronauts between Ryland Grace saving Earth with his pal Rocky and the Artemis II astronauts’ record-breaking mission to the moon. 

So it only seems appropriate to acknowledge National Astronaut Day by celebrating our favorite real-life and fictional astronauts to make the leap from page to screen. 

‘Project Hail Mary’

The latest astronaut to charm his way onto the big screen is Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) in “Project Hail Mary” based on the book by Andy Weir. We’re not exactly sure what they call astronauts on Erid, but we’ll go ahead and include Grace’s alien counterpart, Rocky (James Ortiz), too. 

These two share a delightful and heartwarming bond as they race to save their respective planets from a sun-eating life form. Grace is a bit of a reluctant astronaut, forced into the role after one of the science experts who’s supposed to go on the mission dies. But after waking up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth with no memory of how he got there, he befriends Rocky and the two manage to work together to figure out the problem—and be adorable all the while. 

‘The Martian’

Weir has a good handle on writing likable—if quirky—astronauts. He was also the mind behind the 2015 movie “The Martian,” starring Matt Damon in the titular role.  

This time, instead of saving the world, Mark Watney (Damon), his fellow Ares III astronauts (played by Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan and Aksel Hennie) and a whole team of NASA scientists must figure out a way to bring Watney back home after he’s stranded on Mars. Watney is a smart-mouthed biologist who’s a little bit cocky but mostly a fun and likeable guy. Oh, and he really knows how to “science the shit” out of any problem that comes his way. 

‘First Man’

“Project Hail Mary” wasn’t Gosling’s first outing as an astronaut. In 2018, he portrayed the very real Neil Armstrong, the first human to step on the moon, in “First Man.” The film is based on the nonfiction book “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong” by James R. Hansen. 

The book and film tell the story of Armstrong’s early years in NASA, first as a test pilot, then as an astronaut with Project Gemini. It follows him through to the historic moon landing in 1969. The film also stars Claire Foy as Janet Armstrong, Jason Clarke as Ed White, Kyle Chandler as Deke Slayton, Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin, Patrick Fugit as Elliot See and Christopher Abbott as Dave Scott. 

‘Apollo 13’

We shift from fictional astronauts to the real-life crew behind the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. The movie is based on the biographical book “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13” by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. It stars Tom Hanks as Lovell, commander of the mission, Bill Paxton as pilot Fred Haise and Kevin Bacon as backup command module pilot Jack Swigert. 

The 1995 film tells the story of the trio’s aborted mission to the moon, which is derailed by an on-board explosion that threatens their oxygen supply. Some ingenuity and lots of help from the NASA team on Earth—played by Gary Sinise, Ed Harris and Clint Howard—ends up saving the day and bringing the three astronauts back home. 

‘The Right Stuff’

Like Gosling, Harris must love space, because he had a pretty important role as the first American to orbit Earth, John Glenn, in 1983’s “The Right Stuff.” 

Based on the book of the same name by Tom Wolfe, the movie tells about the seven military test pilots who helped launch the space program as part of Project Mercury. Sam Shepard played Chuck Yeager, Fred Ward was Gus Grissom, Quaid was Gordo Cooper, Scott Glenn played Alan Shepard, Lance Henriksen played Wally Schirra and Scott Paulin played Deke Slayton. 

A television version of “The Right Stuff” in 2020 was also loosely based on Wolfe’s book. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development. If it weren’t for her terrible math skills, she would’ve gone to school to become an astronomer.