Making Mars Exploration 'Smart and Cool': NASA and 'The Martian'

At a recent media event that previewed NASA's "Journey to Mars" and the Ridley Scott film opening in theaters on Oct. 2, the director of the U.S. space agency's planetary science division integrated images from the movie into his talk about NASA's real missions to the Red Planet, subtly blurring the line between reality and imagination. "As a filmmaker, [Scott] wanted to make ["The Martian"] realistic, and I really appreciated pulling together teams of people and answering the questions that he