10 Best Astronaut Movies, Ranked

The Big Picture

• Astronaut dreams may fall flat due to requirements, but astronaut-themed movies offer a taste of space exploration.
• From asteroid adventures to cosmic horrors, astronaut films like ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Life’ provide thrilling experiences.
• Take a cinematic journey through space exploration with films like ‘Marooned,’ ‘Ad Astra,’ and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

There are a lot of people who want to be astronauts as kids. And why not? It’s a fascinating profession. Very few people ever get the chance to go into space. Usually, these dreams end up falling flat after people find out the requirements to be an astronaut, which kind of scares people away. Luckily, if you’re seeking to appease that inner child with big dreams, there are a plethora of astronaut-themed movies to choose from.

It may not come close to the real thing, but it offers a nice taste of what life is really like up there. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two. Or maybe they’ll scare you so bad that you’ll end up becoming glad that you gave up on those astronautical aspirations of yours. On the other hand, you could just be a cinephile with no reason to study space and are just looking for a quality astronaut movie. Luckily, there are lots of options to choose from.

10 ‘Armageddon’ (1998)

Director: Michael Bay

Armageddon is a movie that is a lot better in hindsight. It was received decently at the time, but it’s become a source of nostalgia for many. Directed by Michael Bay and starring Bruce Willis, the movie features a group of astronauts who head to space in order to stop a giant asteroid from colliding with the Earth and ending the world. It becomes a lot better if you decide to take it as what it is: a ridiculous, but fun adventure.

While audiences gave this movie a better reception than critics did, it is oozing with all of the classic Michael Bay tropes that many action movie buffs have come to know and love. Sure, it’s not the best astronaut-themed movie that you can watch, but it makes for a pretty good time if you haven’t seen it already.

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9 ‘Life’ (2017)

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Life probably wasn’t as hyped up as much as it could have been. Which is a shame because it’s pretty good. It features a group of space-based scientists who discover a small blob of life on Mars. This blob, which is adorably named “Calvin” by schoolchildren, proves to be a groundbreaking discovery at first glance. However, the organism quickly begins to grow to the point where it can no longer be controlled. It goes from being a cute creature from Earth’s sister planet to a menace.

From then, the movie turns into a pretty creepy sci-fi horror flick, with Calvin wreaking havoc inside the International Space Station. The versatile and unknown nature of the life form turns it into a terrifying threat, as well as one of the more unique aliens to be featured in horror flicks. As for the movie itself, it’s not perfect. But it is interesting, especially if you’re into space exploration.

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8 ‘Marooned’ (1969)

Director: John Sturges

Marooned came out in 1969, the same year that Neil Armstrong and his team landed on the Moon. Loads of children were fascinated, and many aspired to become astronauts one day. Unfortunately, this movie ended up quashing those aspirations because it shows just how dangerous and unpredictable space can really be. The astronauts in the film are aboard a shuttle when a catastrophic technical failure causes the entire vessel to shut down.

On the ground, NASA determines that there is no way the astronauts can re-enter orbit, so they opt to send a rescue shuttle. However, there is some bad news: a hurricane is approaching the launch site, which would make launching a rescue shuttle impossible. The movie provides claustrophobic tension as the three astronauts on board struggle to survive. It is also remarkably impressive for its time and even earned an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The movie is amazing and provides a sense of grim irony in the fact that the expanse of space is endless, yet the astronauts are trapped in such a small space with no apparent way out.

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7 ‘Ad Astra’ (2019)

Director: James Gray

The idea that something could be out there, in the deepest reaches of space, that has the potential to destabilize life on Earth, and that humanity has no way of knowing about it is profoundly terrifying. But that’s the basic premise of Ad Astra, a sci-fi movie about astronauts starring Brad Pitt. Pitt stars as a space explorer whose father mysteriously disappeared during his intergalactic journeys. Director James Gray stated that he wanted to portray the most accurate depiction of space travel possible on film. While that’s perhaps debatable, it did make for a darn good movie.

While it may not be a horror movie per se, it’s definitely a thriller, in that it uses a lot of twists, turns, and tension rather than focusing on scaring the pants off of its viewers. The movie raises a lot of questions, including the one that everyone has wondered about at some point: are humans the only intelligent life forms in the universe? These questions are why many find space fascinating in the first place–there is so much that is unknown about humanity’s place in the universe, and many are desperate to find the answers. While most people never will get a satisfying answer, they can at least watch this incredible film to get some semblance of a solution.

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6 ‘Sputnik’ (2020)

Director: Egor Abramenko

Sputnik is a Russian sci-fi horror film that didn’t get the credit that it deserves. For a movie that was director Egor Abrakmenko‘s feature film debut, it doesn’t show any signs of inexperience. It is expertly crafted with the same amount of care and effort that any Hollywood blockbuster has. As for the story, it centers on a Soviet-era cosmonaut who accidentally brings an alien life form to Earth.

The nature of the life form itself is truly frightening, as it tends to feed off of human life like a parasite, and hides out inside the human body, nearly undetectable to the naked eye. While not much of the movie takes place in space, it doesn’t need to, because its scares are just as effective on solid ground as they would be in space. It’s not only a good horror flick, but a good sci-fi flick, too.

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5 ‘Apollo 13’ (1995)

Director: Ron Howard

Apollo 13 tells the story of the real mission of the same name, which was a failed Moon landing taking place in 1970. It stars the legendary Tom Hanks as the captain of the ill-fated voyage and was crafted with an incredible amount of care. Director Ron Howard supposedly went to extreme lengths to make sure the movie was as technically and historically accurate as possible. These efforts proved to be fruitful, as the movie was nominated for nine Oscars.

Aside from the perfect performances of its main cast, Apollo 13 was praised for telling the story nearly exactly as it unfolded, without shying away from the more tragic or unsettling bits. Apollo 13 is not only a monument to how far space travel has come, but also how far cinema has come. Yet despite this constant evolution of the medium, the movie hasn’t aged a bit.

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4 ‘The Martian’ (2015)

Director: Ridley Scott

The planet Mars is one that humanity is all too familiar with. It’s right next to the planet we call home and has been the subject of a lot of buzz lately about potentially colonizing the planet within the next few decades. The Martian, however, says that this might be a bad idea. Starring Matt Damon, the story features an astronaut who is sent to Mars but is forced to evacuate. However, he is accidentally left behind and has no other option but to try to survive on an otherwise inhabitable planet with no way out.

So close and yet so far from home, Damon’s performance is electric and makes the film such a unique journey considering he is alone for the majority of the story. Normally, characters are defined by how they interact with other characters–this time, he is defined by his actions. Carrying a whole movie almost entirely by yourself is no easy feat, but who else could do it but Matt Damon? The Martian was praised for its storytelling and cinematography, which make Mars appear beautiful despite being a barren desert.

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3 ‘Interstellar’ (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Interstellar takes place in the near future, when the Earth itself begins to die, making it uninhabitable. Desperate for a way out, NASA sends out a team of astronauts beyond the reaches of the solar system to find another planet suitable to sustain human life. This movie is mind-bending and features many alien worlds that seem to defy the bounds of physics. But it’s not just about the visuals. Emotions are also an important factor here, as the main character Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) struggles with watching his daughter grow up on Earth without him.

Christopher Nolan has never made a bad movie, and while this one may not be his strongest film, it’s still one for the books and one that is still talked about ten years later. Above all, the film emphasizes just how small planet Earth is in the grand scheme of the universe, and how there are many strange worlds beyond our own that we may never know about. If you’re a sci-fi fan or even an aspiring astronaut, this is a movie for you.

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2 ‘Gravity’ (2013)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Gravity may have a pretty small cast, but it really makes use of what it’s got. When astronaut Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) embarks on her first mission, she is left stranded after a cloud of space debris rips her shuttle to shreds. Spinning out of control and lost in the endless expanse of space, she intends to find a way home using any means necessary. This is a movie that makes viewers feel the sense of anxiety and urgency that Stone experiences, as each moment of salvation is quickly destroyed by the ever-growing cloud of space debris.

It’s an emotional ride, but one that’s also visually stunning. Sure, it takes place just above Earth, which is a planet that everyone is familiar with considering everyone lives there. There are no exotic or strange environments, which is part of the movie’s appeal–it takes something that is so familiar and turns it into something extremely hostile. It is this genius storytelling and its visceral visuals that make it such an endearing and spectacular movie.

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1 ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director Stanley Kubrick was known for being one of the best directors of all time. While all of his movies are incredible, none have reached the sense of wonder and scale that 2001: A Space Odyssey has. This movie sees a group of astronauts traveling to Jupiter to discover the origins of a mysterious artifact found beneath the surface of the Moon. They are accompanied by a supercomputer named HAL, who also oversees the ship’s systems.

This is a movie you’re going to have to rewatch a couple of times in order to fully grasp its meaning, especially with its cryptic ending, which usually leaves first-time viewers scratching their heads. Ending aside, the movie is so timeless because it explores the idea that while space is indeed hazardous, some of the more dangerous things in the universe aren’t always found in the great beyond, but right here at home. It’s creepy, mysterious, technologically impressive, and overall, a fantastic movie that is an essential watch for any sci-fi fan.

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KEEP READING: 10 Movies That Will Have You Terrified to Go to Space