(dramatic contemplative music)
- The only thing I've ever known
for sure in my life is that I wanna be
on the first mission to Mars.
- [Narrator] Is this a lie?
While Hilary Swank plays an astronaut in the series "Away,"
did you know that Swank's childhood dream
at five years old, even before wanting to become an actor,
was actually to be an astronaut in real life?
That was the first of 21 facts and one lie based
on the series "Away."
Share this video and give us a thumbs up
to make sure you never miss any mind-blowing facts.
(rocket roaring)
To make this fictional space mission
as realistic as possible, a former NASA astronaut,
Mike Massimino, helped with production
to nail all the space details.
- [Female Reporter] A recent predicts a 50-50 chance you
won't survive this mission.
- [Narrator] Mars is a tricky planet to reach.
From Earth, there have been a total
of 56 non-manned missions to Mars.
Only 26 were successful.
- [Male Reporter] How about your family?
How do they feel about you leaving them for three years?
- [Narrator] Because Mars has a longer orbit around the sun,
its years are twice as long as years on Earth.
Currently, NASA's Perseverance rover is on its way to Mars
with a landing date of February 2021.
Its goal is to find signs of ancient life
and collect rock and soil samples.
Swank's character was inspired
by real-life astronaut Peggy Whitson,
who happens to be from the same hometown as Swank's parents.
Mars is home to the tallest mountain
in the entire solar system,
a volcano called Olympus Mons that stands three times
as tall as Mount Everest.
- I asked him to help.
- I've only been in that sweaty simulator.
I wanna get to taste the real thing.
- [Misha] I assume you can patch a leak.
- Apparently, better than you.
- [Narrator] A key part of any space mission wardrobe
are the mission patches.
Each space mission has an intricate patch
that the real-life astronauts help design.
Mars may have the potential to support human life
because of the presence of water.
NASA discovered ice on Mars in 2008.
"Away's" costume designer is no stranger to astronaut chic.
She also designed space suits
for the show "Stranger Things."
- Commander, welcome to one-six gravity.
- [Narrator] The cast did an astronaut training boot camp
to practice wire work and emulate how bodies move
in low-gravity environments.
Mark Invanir, who plays Russian astronaut Misha Popov,
had a secret advantage as a former circus performer.
He was already doing back flips
when the cast practiced wire work.
- This is Commander Emma Green here on the moon.
- [Narrator] Swank said the most challenging part
of simulating space was slowly moving your body
to simulate low gravity while talking at a normal speed.
Moving in slow mo makes you want
to slow down your words, too.
- [Unison] To Mars.
- A mission to Mars takes three years,
so astronauts have to pack a lot of food,
like 24,000 pounds of food.
Designing the spaceship set for "Away"
included adding a lot of food storage space
to make it realistic.
(door clanking and hissing)
To make the "Away" spaceship feel true to life,
the set design team researched real plans
for future space modules
from NASA's Orion spacecraft to SpaceX.
Any Mars mission requires preparing
for temperatures that differ from Earth.
A summer day on Mars can get up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you think that you can handle the heat,
don't forget to stick around until the end
to find out which fact is actually a lie.
(crickets chirping) (piano playing out of tune)
Josh Charles's character, Matt,
is both an astronaut and a composer.
While Charles knows how to play guitar in real life,
he had to learn piano for the role.
While Mars is the most accessible planet from Earth,
it's still 140 million miles away.
According to NASA, a trip to Mars
would take about three years.
(Lu speaks in foreign language)
(boy speaks in foreign language)
- [Narrator] The astronauts of "Away"
bring multiple languages to the table.
Vivian Wu, who plays Chinese astronaut Lu Wang,
speaks English, Chinese, and Russian throughout the series.
- [Misha] Say cheese, astronauts.
- [Narrator] If you wish you were taller,
you should leave Earth.
Astronauts can grow up to two inches taller in space
from the lack of gravity compressing their vertebrae.
"Away" visits some of the more unpleasant aspects
of space travel, like losing part of your foot.
After being in space for weeks,
astronauts begin shedding large pieces
of skin from the soles of their feet.
- [Emma] A hell of a privilege to be up here.
- [Narrator] "Away" is loosely based
on an article written for "Esquire Magazine" in 2014.
The author joined the writing staff for the show.
Could you spot the lie?
(atmospheric futuristic music)
While the weather on Mars is different from Earth,
the highest recorded temperature on Mars
is only 86 degrees Fahrenheit
with its lower temperature at an icy negative 220 degrees.
See you next time.