Space… the final frontier. Sure. But what do you really do once you get there? You just float around in circles, day after day after day, kind of like the Griswolds getting stuck on the rotary in London. So yes, the wonders of the cosmos and all that jazz, but as with any long trip, sometimes you need to be able to pop in a movie or an episode of your favorite TV show to pass the time.
So it should come as no surprise that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station have a library of films and television shows at their disposal that would quickly become as popular as Netflix if they offered it as a streaming service.
#Movie night in micro #Gravity aboard #ISS on our new HD projector which we use for conferences, tech software, etc.. pic.twitter.com/Mhb03U3alz
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) April 25, 2015
Matt Novak, who runs the Paleofuture blog on Gizmodo, managed to get a hold of the entire list from a Freedom of Information request, and it is massive and diverse, including tons of space movies. The types of movies partially or completely set in space range from the exciting to the “How the hell could they watch that!?” Films include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Armageddon, the Alien franchise, Contact, Gravity, Serenity, lots and lots of Star Trek and Star Wars, Total Recall, and way more.
And those are just the space films. The rest of the library has shows ranging from The Sopranos to Better Call Saul to Cosmos to Absolutely Fabulous to Modern Family. And their movies are as diverse as Anchorman, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Make sure you head over and marvel at their entire library, but do take note that somehow the most popular show in the world isn’t available in outer space, because Game of Thrones is strangely omitted.
I guess astronauts can deal with watching movies where spaceships get blown up or attacked by aliens, but the Red Wedding is too much.
What film or show on the list surprised you the most? Tell us in the comments below.
Featured Image: MGM
