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In the science-fiction novel and movie “Project Hail Mary,” the story revolves around the rigors of an astronaut working and surviving during a yearslong mission, the power of deep-space communications, the search for life beyond Earth, and nearby star systems that actually exist — Tau Ceti and 40 Epsilon A.Let NASA shed some light — explore the resources below to learn the science facts fueling the science fiction.
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Images at top:
A Glowing Green Planet, Teeming With Life
What might look like a pair of spacecraft orbiting a pale green exoplanet (as “Adrian” is described) is actually a photo of the International Space Station above Earth in October 2024. Severe geomagnetic storms created not only the more common shimmering green northern lights, but also very rare bright-red auroras in the atmosphere. Credit: NASA astronaut Don Pettit
Venus Gets Between Earth and the Sun
The 2012 Transit of Venus — the spectacle of Venus as it passes across the face of the Sun — is captured in this multiple-exposure, ultra-high-definition view by the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. The rarest predictable solar event, the next Venus transit won’t happen until 2117. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO
No Rocky Exoplanet
Rocky exoplanet 40 Eridani A b might not exist, but this near-infrared image shows the confirmed exoplanet 51 Eridani b, about 96 light-years from Earth. Captured in 2014 by the Gemini Planet Imager, this view masks the star at center, 51 Eridani, so its glare doesn’t obscure the Jupiter-sized planet, 51 Eridani b, which orbits 11 billion miles from its star, a little farther out than Saturn’s orbit in our solar system. Credit: Gemini Observatory, NSF’s NOIRLab, NSF, AURA, Julien Rameau (University of Montreal), Christian Marois (NRC Herzberg)
Artemis and Human Spaceflight
NASA is returning astronauts to deep space for the first time in 50+ years, when the upcoming Artemis II mission carries four crew members beyond the Moon and back — venturing farther from Earth than humans have ever traveled. Artemis III and IV will follow, orbiting Earth and then returning astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Each mission builds on the ones before it, extending further, for ever-longer periods of time, expanding human exploration from the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.
But space travel is hard on humans— especially extended missions — so NASA has long studied the impacts of spaceflight on astronauts, including the effects of isolation and the ways that microgravity changes the body, as well as ways to develop food that’s appetizing as well as nutritious.
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