8 Movies That Make Space Seem Absolutely Terrifying

7) Apollo 13

Like Gravity, Apollo 13 tells of a nigh-on routine NASA mission-gone-wrong. The difference is that this one is based on real events, and puts into danger none other than Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon, three of the most lovable actors in Hollywood, thus lending this disastrous affair an almost unbearable kind of tension.

It’s probably no spoiler alert to say that all three survive, but even though likely everybody knows the story going in, it’s the sense of dwindling hope that director Ron Howard lends to the film that keeps it gut-churningly tense.

Set in 1970 between the Earth and the Moon, Apollo 13 documents how the titular craft – built to carry three men onto the lunar surface – almost found itself floating aimlessly out into space permanently, with Hanks’ Jim Lovell only getting his team back home by some miracle.

It’s a story of how one small malfunction (in this case, it’s an oxygen tank failure) can take astronauts from comfortable safety to near-fatality in mere moments. Space, Apollo 13 concedes, is not even a little bit accommodating of human error.