Ad Astra

Character mistake: During the debrief meeting with the generals, Roy states the Lima Project was "some 29 years ago" and "the ship disappeared approximately 16 years into the mission." A few minutes later, Roy narrates "I was 16 when he left, 29 when he disappeared." This of course is only 13 years into the mission. (00:11:27 - 00:15:03)

Character mistake: Brad Pitt ends his message to his dad by saying "over and out", which is often used in movies but not how radio communication works. "Over" signifies the end of your current speech, "out" means you're done with the conversation. You use one or the other, not both.

Character mistake: Brad Pitt has control jets on his space suit - he uses them to accelerate him back towards his ship at the end, but somehow doesn't think to turn himself around and use them to slow down, hence slamming into the ship at great speed. Given the skill he demonstrates every other time in the movie, this only seems to happen for the sake of a dramatic arrival.

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Suggested correction: It is not unfeasible that he used the RPS fuel to accelerate and had none left, since he already wasted a certain amount after his father pulled him away from Lima station.

In space you can't just swing around and change directions because there is no friction or gravity. He would have to have a jet that shoots forward (a retrorocket) or he would have to turn using the jets which would make him go in the opposite direction, not slow him down. From what I saw, there was no retrorocket on his pack.

odelphi

There were retrorockets in his father's suite, he was flying in space using them. Why there was no such rockets in Roy's suite, wasn't it exactly the same? Helmets were identical, and other details too. He could slow him down.

There are no 'rockets' or 'retro rockets' on an EVA space suit, just thrusters that used in combination and with direction of the nozzles, can make it move any way they want, including turning and yes, slowing down. It's just Newton's Laws.

Character mistake: When Cepheus stops accelerating (which it would not have done until it turned to decelerate) crew plays in zero G's like amateurs who had never been in space. They were described as professionals with a lot of experience. They would never have risked fluid in the electronics by doing what they did.

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Suggested correction: In fairness, they were on drugs (mood stabilisers) at the time. This might have affected their judgement.

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Mistakes

Factual error: From the continuity of the movie it appears that the response from LIMA came within a few minutes of the transmission from Mars. This would be impossible. Even if Mars and Neptune were on the same side of the Solar System, in a straight line, they would be 4 light-hours apart, meaning the replay could not be received less than 8 hours after transmission. There's no implication that they kept Brad Pitt sitting in a room for 8 hours waiting for a reply.

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Suggested correction: IIRC, there was a communication sent from earlier. It's very possible they resumed 8 hours later, even if it was the next day. And, judging by the auditors sentiment to LIMAs response (discretion), there is a chance that LIMA did not respond favorably, nor ever would have a chance hear the "emotional" version of the communication sent that day.

Suggested correction: The objective of sending McBride to Mars was for him to transmit a number of appeals to his father on a familial level. Although McBride didn't know it, his messages were intended to catch his father off-guard, making him believe his son was en route to Neptune, but actually clearing the way for a nuclear strike against the LIMA. Unfortunately, the movie fails to make it clear that the younger McBride is transmitting several sequential messages over an extended period of time before his father finally responds. This is more a matter of bad pacing and editing than it is a factual error.

Charles Austin Miller

It was shown that the message the father answered was exactly the one in which the son rejected the script and began to speak from the heart. And this was the same message after which the father immediately answered, while the son was still in the room.

No, Roy McBride sent more than one message, and it even shows time pass between messages. His father's reply to an earlier message only arrived coincidentally as Roy went off-script on a subsequent message.

Charles Austin Miller

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Quotes

Roy McBride: Can I have a blanket and pillow?
Flight Attendant: Certainly, that will be $125.

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Trivia

Trivia: The title is Latin and translates to "to the stars". The title credits fade that wording in English into the title.

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Questions

Question: How did the monkeys get onto the space ship and why were they so aggressive?

Answer: On the way from the Moon to Mars, the Cepheus interplanetary vessel receives an automated distress signal from a Norwegian bio-medical space station (that studies and conducts experiments on Earth animals in the deep-space environment). Apparently, a couple of very powerful and temperamental adult baboons escaped from their cages and killed everyone aboard the space station, feeding on their bodies. When the Cepheus answers the distress signal and arrives at the space station, the baboons attack and try to eat Captain Tanner and Roy McBride, also.

Charles Austin Miller

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