Andy Weir: Project Hail Mary and The Martian

Andy Weir is the king of sci-fi. His first novel The Martian follows Mark Watney, an astronaut mistakenly presumed dead and abandoned on Mars by his crew during a dust storm. Stranded with limited supplies, he uses his botany and engineering skills to survive while NASA figures out how to rescue him. His next novel was Artemis, following a woman living in the first city on the Moon. Then came Project Hail Mary.

We follow science teacher Ryland Grace as he wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he discovers he is the last surviving person on a mission into space to understand a substance called astrophage. Astrophage is causing the sun to die out, and scientists have discovered a distant planet that might hold the key to destroying it. Ryland Grace has to use his scientific training to finish the mission alone, and meets an unlikely ally in space. It’s a story of friendship, communication, understanding, and resilience. It’s both laugh out loud funny and cry your eyes out heartbreaking, a modern sci-fi classic.

Now it’s been turned into a film. In our last episode I met with star of the film Ryan Gosling and filmmakers Lord and Miller. And now, we’re chatting with the author himself Andy Weir. I really hope you enjoy this episode.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices