Listen
- Johnson Space Center in Houston
- Actors Mackenzie Davis and Sebastian Stan from “The Martian” (Photo Credit: Ed Mayberry)
- Starting left to right: Actors Mackenzie Davis and Sebastian Stan, JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa (moderator), with Astronaut Col. Mike Hopkins and ISS Flight Controller Pooja Jesrani (Photo Credit: Ed Mayberry)
- movie poster for "The Martian" (Photo Credit: Ed Mayberry)
- Actors from "The Martian" visit JSC
It’s the half-way point of a special one-year mission on the International Space Station. NASA is testing the limits of extended stays in outer space. That’s as a new movie about an extended stay on Mars is about to premiere.
“This will come as quite a shock to my crew mates — and to NASA — and to the entire world — but I’m still alive. Surprise!” said Mark Watney, Matt Damon’s character in “The Martian.”
“The Martian” centers on a stranded astronaut’s long-term survival on Mars while he awaits rescue.
Actors from the movie visited the Johnson Space Center to compare notes with astronauts and crew members.
It was a chance for Sebastian Stan and Mackenzie Davis to meet ISS astronaut Mike Hopkins.
Mackenzie Davis: “Well, how long is a spacewalk?”
Mike Hopkins: “Spacewalks typically are about six hours.”
Davis: “Six hours!”
Hopkins: “Six hours, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. There’s a long procedure on getting into the suit.”
Sebastian Stan: “Forty-five minutes, right, it takes you, or more?”
Hopkins: “No, it’s even more than that. Yeah, it’s five or six hours from when we start preparing to when we’re actually going out the hatch. And all of a sudden it’s six hours later and you’re coming in after completing a space walk.”
For realism when making films about space, Hollywood often collaborates with NASA.
Sebastian Stan talked about one problem in making the film.
Stan: “I should mention, by the way, that when they made our astronaut suits, they did not, like, think about us going on pee breaks, at all!”
Hopkins: “Ditto! Yeah! That’s … it’s the same!”
“The Martian” opens in theaters on October 2nd.