The Martian Actors Take a Ride in New Mars Rover while Visiting NASA HQ

We’ve said it before; we are quite fond of the way NASA is dealing with their growing popularity. Getting famous pop stars and Hollywood actors aboard of their most recent space vehicles is one way to raise awareness of how important space exploration truly is. After having One Direction shooting their new video at the Agency’s headquarters, we’ve just noticed that some of the actors starring in The Martian movie have done something similar.

Sebastian Stan and Mackenzie Davis visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they met with their characters’ real-life counterparts. If you haven’t heard, The Martian tells the story of a near future where humans are trying to populate Mars. Something goes wrong, and one man is left behind. At first it’s believed he died, but it later turns out he survived and tried to do so until a new crew would return and recover him from the Red Planet.

Matt Damon, who is playing the lead role, was not there with his fellow actors, but he has admitted that some of the technologies featured in the film are real, in previous media interviews. As we said earlier, the two movie stars took a spin in a prototype rover and spoke with the astronauts aboard the ISS.

"I think you can go back and tell the other cast members that you got closer to Mars than any of them have done," said Ellen Ochoa, a shuttle-era astronaut and the director of the Johnson Space Center, referencing Stan and Davis' visit and a Martian meteorite brought out for display. How cool is that, right?

Since we mentioned the chat between the actors and the ISS’ crew members, we also listed the video below. Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to become an astronaut.