In George Clooney's The Midnight Sky, Clooney stars in the film as Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist living in the Arctic following a cataclysmic event on Earth. As Augustine works to prevent a crew of astronauts from returning from space to the imperiled planet, he faces one obstacle after another.

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The Midnight Sky joins a long lineage of movies made about astronauts and outer space, many of which are based on true stories.

Space Cowboys (2000)

Space Cowboys Cast

Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys features a geriatric team of astronauts who reunite for one last hoorah when a malfunctioning Russian satellite of American origin needs repair in the cosmos. Eastwood also stars as Frank Corvin, a former Air Force pilot who finally gets his chance to explore outer space.

Eastwood is joined by Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as the space-traveling quartet whose natural chemistry makes the movie a joy to behold.

First Man (2018)

First Man 2018

Wunderkind director Damien Chazelle followed-up his Oscar-winning effort La La Land with First Man, a depiction of Neil Armstrong's harrowing journey as the first human being to walk on the lunar surface.

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Ryan Gosling stars as Armstrong, the intrepid astronaut who spent eight years of training before becoming the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. With his mission taking priority, Armstrong's homelife is compromised. The riveting action-adventure film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Moon (2009)

Sam sitting in his ship in Moon (2009).

In Duncan Jones' feature debut Moon, Sam Rockwell gives one of his all-time best performances as Sam Bell, a psychologically vexed astronaut losing his sanity following a three-year stint alone on the moon.

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Left on the lunar surface with only an AI computer named GERTY to interact with, Bell is tasked with mining invaluable resources on the moon for use on planet Earth. However, the long-term seclusion and isolation erode Sam's mental state to the point of hallucinatory self-destruction.

Ad Astra (2019)

Brad Pitt Ad Astra

While Brad Pitt won an Oscar for his work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he arguably gives an even better performance in James Gray's contemplative astronaut movie Ad Astra released the same year.

Pitt plays Roy McBride in the film, an astronaut living in the shadow of his famous space-traveling father, Cliff Mcbride (Tommy Lee Jones). When Roy learns his father is still alive and living on Neptune, he goes on a soul-stirring mission to find Cliff and confront their long-troubled past.

The Martian (2015)

The Martian Matt Damon

Based on the novel by Andy Weir, Ridley Scott's commercial and critical smash hit The Martian earned seven Oscar nods and more than $630 million at the global box-office. Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, a stranded and left-for-dead astronaut who uses his scientific innovation to survive on the red planet.

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Left to his own devices, Watney terraforms the planet, begins to grow potatoes to subsist on, and eventually communicates with NASA to mount a rescue campaign.

Apollo 13 (1995)

Apollo 13 Cast

Based on the incredible real-life event, Ron Howard's Apollo 13 traces the harrowing and heroic mission of Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), a trio of astronauts stuck in orbit when their spacecraft begins to break down.

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With the help of NASA's control room led by Gene Kranz (Ed Harris), the crewmembers follow detailed instructions to repair the vessel in real-time and mount an improbable return to Earth. The film won Oscar awards for Best Editing and Sound.

Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar 2014

With an 8.6/10 rating, Christopher Nolan's epic space adventure Interstellar currently ranks #29 on IMDB'S Top 250. The star-studded affair co-written by Jonathan Nolan won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

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Story-wise, the film takes place in a future world in which Earth is devastated by environmental climate change. For humans to persist, they must undergo space-travel and enter a wormhole that gives access to an inhabitable Earth-like planet. Along the way, astronaut Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is torn between his dangerous mission and the loyalty to his family.

The Right Stuff (1983)

Cast of The Right Stuff (1983)

Based on Tom Wolfe's best-selling book of the same name, Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff is one of the all-time greatest movies about the American Space Program. The three-hour epic won four Oscars and currently holds a 91/100 Metascore to go with its 96% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

The historical drama charts the evolution of the space program, from Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier for the first time to the brash and bumbling astronauts of the Mercury 7 program. The film also inspired a 2020 TV spinoff series.

Gravity (2013)

Ryan Stone crying in Gravity 2013

Alfonso Cuaron's groundbreaking technical marvel Gravity won seven Academy Awards, including Best Director, Cinematography, and Visual Effects. The soulful story follows Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a lone astronaut marooned in space following a near-catastrophic accident.

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Guided by her sense of faith, inner-strength, and reliance on the communication of fellow astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), Stone makes a daring sojourn back to Earth knowing the improbability of her survival.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

David Bowman piloting the ship in his spacesuit in 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

Fifty-two years after its release, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey remains the most definitive astronaut movie ever made. Without its existence, this entire list would cease to be.

Kubrick won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for 2001, which currently ranks #90 on IMDB's Top 250. The technical mastery of the movie continues to hold up five decades later in a story that finds humanity in search of its origin upon the discovery of an extraterrestrial relic buried beneath the surface of the moon.

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