Three Things to Stream: Astronaut Expeditions

If space is your thing, these three out-of-this-world films are available to stream this weekend.

Mar 20, 2026

By Angela Davis
MOVIE REVIEWER

Buzz Aldrin on the moon in front of the US flag — Photo by NASA on Unsplash

For generations, space travel has fascinated people and inspired new stories about humanity’s determination to travel to the stars and explore the unknown. This weekend, a new film called Project Hail Mary hits theaters takes a serious subject — the end of the world — and explores the story using space travel as a hopeful solution. If you’re still yearning to check out great stories about astronauts and expeditions, here are three things you can stream over the weekend.

Interstellar (Paramount+) (Rated PG-13)

Christopher Nolan’s grandiose space epic has become an instant classic among movie fans. It follows a farmer, hired on a team of astronauts to find a habitable planet to save humanity as Earth’s ecosystem slowly dies. As he navigates a dangerous planetary system orbiting a massive black hole, he holds onto hope that he’ll one day see his daughter again.

What’s fascinating about Interstellar is how praised it has become by the scientific community, including astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. There are plenty of creative decisions the film makes to make it more entertaining for a casual audience. However, despite its more fictional elements, Interstellar is a film that has earned its universal praise as one of the best sci-fi films of the 21st century.

Boyhood director Richard Linklater took a shot at creating his own sci-fi story in this animated slice-of-life tale. It follows a 12-year-old boy named Stanley in the late 1960s, who is secretly recruited by NASA to become the first boy to walk on the Moon. However, as he prepares for his mission, he continues to live an average life in Texas as the world prepares to witness the Apollo 11 launch.

What makes Apollo 10 ½ such an interesting story is how it explores childhood during the Cold War. Space was a hot-button topic during the 1960s as the US and the Soviet Union competed to travel past Earth first, and this film brilliantly showcases what life was like during this time. It certainly stretches the truth to feature an outrageous tale about an untold mission to land a boy on the Moon, but in a way, it’s a unique way to show how space travel impacted an entire generation and made them yearn to become astronauts themselves.

WALL-E (Disney+) (Rated G)

This 2008 Pixar classic has become a well-loved addition to its filmography, and there’s no denying just how impactful it was. It follows a small robot on a post-apocalyptic Earth as he’s tasked with cleaning up the trash left behind by mankind. However, when he discovers a plant growing in the soil, he goes on an adventure to deliver it to the spacebound human race to show Earth is livable again.

Unlike most Pixar films, WALL-E is far more quiet. There’s not nearly as much dialogue until the humans are on-screen since the robots in the film are limited in speech. What it lacks in sound though, it more than makes up for it with visuals. This is a gorgeous film with breathtaking shots in space and dystopian glimpses at Earth in the future. It’s a film that wears its heart on its sleeve with its focus on visual storytelling, and it makes this film one of the greatest Pixar movies of all time.