On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the bill that created NASA. The agency opened its doors on Oct. 1 that year and it has been a godsend to Hollywood, providing lots of fodder for films based on history to science-fiction and adventure. Some, such as “The Right Stuff,” “Contact” and “The Martian” were adapted from books, while others like “Armageddon” and “Space Cowboys,” were pure summer popcorn fun. While Hollywood has made many films covering space, here are 10 that involve NASA to salute the space agency and its programs.

• Apollo 13

  

  Ron Howard’s 1996 film, starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon and Ed Harris paid tribute to the failed lunar mission. One of the saddest moments is when Hanks, as Commander Jim Lovell, watches the it go by and sadly tells the rest of the crew, “Gentlemen, we just lost the moon.” The film gave pop culture one of its most popular lines, also from Hanks: “Houston, we have a problem.”

• Armageddon

  

  Bruce Willis leads a group of misfits to blow up an asteroid that is on course to hit the Earth. NASA hires the deep core drillers who, besides Willis, include Ben Affleck as the man dating Willis’ daughter with Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Patton and Steve Buscemi. Michael Bay directed this popcorn thriller, which provides loads of fun while still calling for a suspension of disbelief.

• Contact

  

  Jodie Foster toplines this search for aliens in Robert Zemeckis’ 1997 film that is a nod to SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Based on the novel by Carl Sagan, the drama takes us into foreign planets but the vision the aliens show Foster’s Ellie is altered so that she can grasp what she is seeing. One of the best lines is uttered by Ellie’s father and which she repeats: “I’d say if it is just us … seems like an awful waste of space.”

• First Man

  

  Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, gets the big-screen treatment in Damien Chazelle’s 2018 drama about the quiet man and his inner torment about the daughter he lost. Ryan Gosling stars as the central character with Claire Foy as his silent and supportive wife, but the cast member with the most spark is Corey Stoll as a brash Buzz Aldrin. While the details of the moon landing are known to many, for the younger crowd that wasn’t around to see the grainy images on TV, the film is a revelation.

• Gravity

  

  Alfonso Cuaron won the directing Oscar for 2013’s “Gravity,” which drew 10 nominations and seven wins. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney starred in the story of a marooned astronaut (Bullock) who wills herself to get home. Among the best scenes are when Clooney’s character encourages a disheartened Bullock to pull herself together when she thinks she is all alone. “Hey Ryan? It’s time to go home.”

• Hidden Figures

  

  The unsung heroes who helped America’s space program finally get their due in 2016’s drama on Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) with Kirsten Dunst as a splendid foil to these Black math geniuses. The scene in which Spencer runs between buildings to get to a restroom with her papers and back has the audience on the edge of the seat.

• Interstellar

  

  Before “Tenet,” Christopher Nolan directed a movie about space explorers called “Interstellar,” in which former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) sets out into space to find another viable world for people as Earth is threatened by dust storms and the only crop being grown is corn. At a NASA facility Cooper’s former boss is working on a couple of plans to find these other planets and he sends Cooper on his mission. Jessica Chastain stars as McConaughey’s grownup daughter and a NASA scientist. Watch for the cameo by Matt Damon.

• The Martian

  

  Adapted from Andy Weir’s science-fiction novel of the same name, “The Martian” centers around an astronaut who is accidentally left behind by his colleagues and NASA’s attempt to get him back to Earth. Starring a slew of stellar names — Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Daniel Glover — this Ridley Scott-helmed comedy-drama was backed by a soundtrack of fun songs from “Starman” to “I Will Survive” and “Hot Stuff.” The Golden Globes named it best picture, comedy in 2015.

• The Right Stuff

  

  Phillip Kaufman was not daunted by Tom Wolfe’s epic book detailing the development of the U.S. space flight program, masterfully contrasting the daredevil world of experimental pilots and the more buttoned-up engineers recruited as astronauts. Both courted high risk but approached danger in much different ways, while the film centers on pilot Chuck Yeager, the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Standout scene: Yeager, played by Sam Shepard channeling Gary Cooper, tries to break an altitude record, but his plane freezes, he ejects and his parachute doesn’t open. Cut to the desert floor where we see two medics racing toward the smoky remains of the plane, while a man emerges from the heat waves, burnt but with swagger. “Is that a man?” one asks. “Yeah, you’re damn right it is,” the other smiles as Bill Conti’s score swells.

• Space Cowboys

  

  Geezers come to the rescue in Clint Eastwood’s 2000 drama about a retired engineer who ropes in his fellow former test pilots to repair a failing Soviet satellite. The aging all-star cast includes Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones and James Cromwell as the NASA manager who brings them back from retirement with Marcia Gay Harden as the unlucky NASA official put in charge of them. The final scene with Garner is at once hokey and touching.

Read More About:

• Apollo 13,
• Hidden Figures,
• Nasa,
• The Right Stuff

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