The abundance of sci-fi movies and hit television shows throughout the years have produced many fictional astronaut heroes for the masses to admire. This list highlights ten of the top fictional TV and movie astronauts that have continued to inspire humanity through their portrayals.
No top ten astronaut countdown would be complete without this iconic Planet of the Apes duo. This team found themselves in an unknown world after experiencing some “radioactive” turbulence that somehow sent the duo in a wacky time loop. The extremely popular television series follows the two astronauts and their highly intelligent chimpanzee ally as they navigate the strange world.
Dr. David Bowman plays the mission commander in the popular film “2001 A Space Odyssey.” This intriguing film follows the commander’s interactions with HAL-9000, a supercomputer loaded with advanced artificial intelligence and an eerie human-like consciousness. When HAL begins to develop a mind of his own and turn against the astronaut, Dave must decide how to deal with this super intelligent and necessary technology while orbiting alone in space.
Chuck Taggart is an inspiring astronaut who witnesses the Earth being destroyed but has the unique opportunity to travel into the past, identify the incoming disaster and potentially prevent the cataclysm in the television series “Odyssey 5”. While Chuck and his crew revisit the past and fight villainous AI and nanotechnology, they also struggle with time continuum issues as they attempt to alter various aspects of the known timeline.
Mark Watney’s unique skill set and great attitude led him to be chosen for the Ares III mission to Mars. He was chosen to use his experience growing plants to research the possibility of colonizing Mars. When things go from bad to worse, this hero finds himself abandoned on this Martian planet and is assumed dead by NASA. Filmgoers experience the full scope of emotions when Watney is forced to survive completely on his own.
Frank Corvin is one of the most famous fictional astronauts and is depicted by Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys. In this unforgettable movie, Frank is a test pilot whose dreams to go to space are crushed by a cruel commander. Fifty years later, the same commander has risen to the head of NASA and now desperately needs Frank for a specific mission that only he has the knowledge to solve. In the typical American-style fashion, Frank uses his leverage to force the commander into letting his entire original crew fly to space.
Ted Dougherty is NASA’s chief Astronaut in the film “Marooned” and is forced to make some tough decisions when three fellow astronauts become trapped in a space station. Dougherty is adamant about attempting anything to rescue the team, but the head of NASA is convinced that nothing can be done. Sacrificing his own safety, Dougherty takes an experimental ship in a desperate attempt to help.
While the Planet of the Apes television series showcased some unforgettable fictional astronauts, the 1968 film produced its own iconic character Commander George Taylor. This interesting character leaves his life behind, undergoes suspended animation and hopes to find a more civilized society in a future world or distant planet. Sadly, the Commander is shocked to wake up on a planet where humans are slaves to the ruling Ape society.
This truly underrated fictional astronaut faced the unknown in the film “First Man Into Space”. This brave pilot defies his orders to stay within Earth’s atmosphere and instead turns his eyes to the sky. Unfortunately, his wild notion of leaving the atmosphere mutates his body when he encounters radioactive conditions that leave him permanently affected. Prescott is so memorable because he embodies the curiosity of real-life space enthusiasts and even describes the painful outcome as worth the chance to be the first man in space.
Dr. Ryan Stone is the main the character in “Gravity”. This incredibly intelligent astronaut is highly skilled and was trained by NASA to perform a complicated in-space installation of special technology. When disaster strikes and she finds herself completely alone, this witty character is forced to rely solely on her intelligence to survive. The complexity of this character and realistic portrayal of her as a flawed human makes Dr. Ryan Stone a perfect fit for this top ten countdown.
In the film Deep Impact, the world is faced with a seemingly unstoppable killer comet on a direct collision course with planet Earth. Spurgeon Tanner leads a crew of astronauts dedicated to protecting and serving humanity through any means necessary. Faced with the impossible, Tanner and his crew initially fail when a piece of the comet reaches Earth and wipes out millions of innocent humans. Tanner and his crew embody the hero that all of us hope is within us, so this iconic fictional astronaut will live on forever as we watch his character fight for all of us.
