Ridley Scott’s drawing of Matt Damon on the cover of The Martian script went to space and back in NASA’s first Orion crew capsule test flight
Ridley Scott's drawing of Matt Damon's stranded astronaut character on the cover page of Drew Goddard's script for The Martian film adaptation of Andy Weir's novel of the same name successfully made it to space and back inside the crew capsule of NASA's Orion spacecraft during its first test flight early this month. The 11-foot-long capsule has finally been returned Friday to its home base at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after having completed a journey of more than 66,000 miles through space, reports Universe Today.
The Martian follows the story of Matt Damon's character, the astronaut Mark Watney, who is part of a science team conducting experiments on Mars. A dust storm forces the team to evacuate, but Watney is injured. Presumed dead, he gets left behind to fend for himself. With no hope of rescue and resources running thin, Watney uses the power of science to keep himself alive on the barren red planet. In Ridley's sketching, Matt Damon's Watney is seen saying, "I'll science the shit out of this planet," which is an actual line from the Andy Weir book.
Aditya Sood, an executive co-producer in the Ridley Scott film project, told Empire Online: "NASA really rolled out the red carpet for us. In the capsule they had some personal objects that were important to people involved in the Orion project and one of the things was Ridley's drawing on the cover page of The Martian script. This is a movie about people who are really passionate about science and space-travel, so that was a really great moment for us." Aside from Scott's drawing of Matt Damon on The Martian script cover, also on board the experimental crew capsule were memorabilia from Star Trek and Sesame Street.
The Martian, which is now filming in Budapest, is scheduled for a November 25, 2015 release. Matt Damon is joined in the cast by Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena.