Artemis II Crew Watched Project Hail Mary While in Quarantine Before Takeoff, Astronaut Gives Ryan Gosling the Thumbs Up More Than Halfway to the Moon

Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen has given Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary his seal of approval more than halfway to the Moon.

Gosling, who stars as Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher and former molecular biologist who travels to the Tau Ceti system on a mission to save humanity, had recorded a video in which he sent his best wishes to the four astronauts ahead of their own 10-day mission to outer space.

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Hansen, the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the Moon, and Gosling are both from the south-western Ontario city of London, in Canada. The crew of Artemis II will, assuming all goes well, travel further from Earth than any human before — more than 250,000 miles.

Hansen was asked on Saturday what message he would give to Gosling, were he asking the questions himself in the live interview.

“That’s super cool,” Hansen began. “We were all really lucky. We got to watch Hail Mary when we were in quarantine. That was a real treat that they sent us a link to view that at home with our families, getting us ready to go on our own space adventure.

“I would just say to Ryan, art imitates science and vice versa, it seems. He did a great job in that movie. It’s wonderful to see people really leaning into those roles. I thought it was just such an inspirational example, and somebody who goes out there and just gets what was done to save humanity. It’s a pretty extraordinary example that we can all follow. We all thought that movie was really uplifting and inspiring.”

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It’s a positive review to add to the mountain of positive reviews Project Hail Mary has already amassed since hitting theaters last month. IGN’s Project Hail Mary review returned from the Moon with an 8/10. We said: “Project Hail Mary is a rollicking sci-fi blockbuster celebrating how much we can accomplish when we work together… and how much meet-cute mileage you can get out of watching Ryan Gosling befriend a rock alien for two and a half hours.”

So, how’s Artemis II getting on? According to the official NASA live tracker, it’s 76,000 miles from the Moon (as of the early hours of Sunday, April 5). Lunar closest approach is currently is 46 hours away, with the plan to travel around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside the Earth’s orbit.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the crew should pass around the far side of the Moon on Monday, April 6, before returning to Earth on April 10, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

On Friday, Nasa shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as they passed the halfway point between the Earth and the Moon. Mission commander, Reid Wiseman, took the images after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour.