The first steps on the moon happened in 1969 during National Aeronautics and Space Administration  (NASA)’s Apollo 11 mission — watched by an estimated 650 million people worldwide — and since then, space has not only been explored but heavily reimagined by popular culture, one that risks blurring the line between aspiration and reality.

We’ve unlocked a fifth dimension through a bookshelf, watched a stranded astronaut survive on Mars by farming potatoes, and been asked to accept everything from talking rocks to improbable friendships in the cosmos.

But these are not just stories. They actively shape how people perceive space travel and how close it actually is.

Let’s face it. Space travel films have become one of the most powerful forms of modern escapism, and the numbers speak clearly.

Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, earned around $681 million worldwide during its original theatrical run and climbed to approximately $774.7 million with subsequent releases. Ridley Scott’s The Martian also performed strongly, grossing about $630.16 million globally. More recently, Project Hail Mary by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller has surpassed $676 million at the global box office, further proving the demand for stories set beyond Earth.

However, these kinds of stories often present spaceflight as routine or even commercial, risking a distorted sense of a reality that is still defined by extreme cost and technical risk. In truth, space travel remains one of the most expensive and complex human endeavors ever undertaken.

For instance, the NASA Artemis II mission, a crewed lunar flyby and the first of its kind in more than 50 years, not even a landing, has been linked to an estimated long-term program cost of around $90 billion, according to a report cited by Forbes. 

Yet despite these costs and the risks to astronaut lives, public response has remained overwhelmingly supportive. Across social media and public discourse, the Artemis program has been met with excitement and pride, even when its realities are far more complex and costly than its cinematic portrayals suggest.

Moreover, the gap between imagination and reality becomes clearer when looking at the commercial space industry. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, through SpaceX and Blue Origin, are often seen as leaders in making space travel more available to civilians. But in reality, the chance to fly to space comes with an extremely high cost — around $200,000 to as much as $200 million — making it accessible only to a very small number of wealthy individuals.

Even for those who can afford a ticket, space travel is nothing like booking a flight at the airport. Test flights continue to reveal technical failures and delays, exposing just how difficult it is to build spacecraft capable of safely carrying humans beyond Earth. They serve as a reminder that spaceflight is still highly experimental, where a single malfunction is not merely an inconvenience, but a potentially life-ending failure within seconds.

As Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, says in Interstellar, “We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.” It is a compelling idea — and historically, it has been true.

But cinema can turn this into a misleading assumption: that if something can be imagined, it is already within reach. Reality does not work that way. 

The appeal is understandable. In a world marked by corruption, war, inequality, and other struggles, these fictional stories offer hope by making the impossible feel close. But they can also blur the truth that space is not yet a place we can visit casually or safely without limits. 

Kendrece Carl Montoya is the Broadcasting Head and Online Media Manage of The Angelite for the Publication Year 2025-2026, and writes opinions under the column “Keepin’ it Reel”

The views and opinion of the editor does not necessarily reflect those of the publication.