To infinity and beyond. Celebrate 60 years of human spaceflight with our countdown of awe-inspiring space movies.
6 May 2021
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Since its earliest days, cinema has been fascinated by the idea of space travel. Some 67 years before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, George Méliès took audiences there with 1902’s Le Voyage dans la lune. Considered cinema’s first sci-fi, Méliès’ film sees explorers crash into Earth’s closest neighbour in a rocket shot out of a cannon, and then proceed to do battle with the insectoid inhabitants.
Today, with the benefit of another century-plus of scientific understanding, the space film looks very different. Space travel in the movies is constantly evolving. In the space race era, space movies looked forward to a utopian future. In the 70s, a murkier vision reflective of growing real-world social and political distress took hold. And then, post-Star Wars, a more fantastical and action-packed take on life in spa