Project Hail Mary
One man. One ship. One last chance to save everything.
The novel by Andy Weir & the motion picture from Amazon MGM Studios.
The Novel
Andy Weir's Masterpiece
Published in May 2021, Project Hail Mary soared to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and cemented Andy Weir as one of the great science-fiction storytellers of our era.
HAIL MARY
When all of humanity needs saving, a lone astronaut wakes up millions of miles from Earth with no memory of who he is or how he got there. What he discovers will change the fate of two civilizations.
Hugo Award finalist; Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction (2021)
Andy Weir — also wrote The Martian (2011) and Artemis (2017)
Earth, near-future solar system, and the Tau Ceti star system ~12 light-years away
4.52 / 5 on Goodreads from over 1 million ratings — one of the highest-rated sci-fi novels of the decade
The Story
A Race Against Extinction
A riveting, spoiler-light journey through the most ambitious solo mission humanity has ever launched.
The Sun Is Dimming
Scientists detect that the Sun is losing luminosity at an alarming rate. The culprit: Astrophage, a single-celled photosynthetic organism that feeds directly on stellar energy. Earth has perhaps thirty years before an ice age ends civilization.
The Hail Mary Mission
One star — Tau Ceti, 12 light-years away — shows no dimming. Humanity's last hope is to send a small crew there to discover why and send the answer home aboard small unmanned probes. There isn't enough fuel to bring the crew back: it's a one-way trip.
A Man Wakes Up Alone
Ryland Grace regains consciousness aboard the Hail Mary with no memory. His two crewmates are dead. Piecing together fragments of memory, he slowly reconstructs who he is, why he is the only one left, and what he must do.
First Contact
Grace discovers he is not alone in the Tau Ceti system. An alien spacecraft from the planet Erid is conducting the same investigation. Against all odds, he establishes communication with the Eridian he calls Rocky — changing everything.
Two Worlds, One Problem
Working across species, language barriers, and wildly different biologies, Grace and Rocky pool their science to understand Astrophage. Their unlikely friendship becomes the story's beating heart.
The Choice
With a solution in hand, Grace must make an impossible decision — one that defines what it truly means to be human, and to be alive in an indifferent universe.
The Characters
Crew & Companions
Two beings from different stars, united by science — and something more.
Meet Rocky
An Eridian engineer from a world with twice Earth's gravity, Rocky breathes high-pressure ammonia and has no eyes at all — he perceives the world through sound, and speaks in musical chords.
Despite every biological difference imaginable, Rocky's warmth, humor, and fierce loyalty make him one of the most beloved characters in all of science fiction. The friendship at the heart of this story transcends species — and maybe even the universe itself.
A junior high school science teacher turned reluctant hero. Grace's boundless curiosity, self-deprecating humor, and deep love of science carry the reader across the void. His amnesia-driven self-discovery is one of fiction's great narrative engines.
An ammonia-breathing, five-limbed creature from a high-gravity world who communicates through musical tones. Rocky is one of science fiction's most beloved alien characters — curious, loyal, and every bit as funny as his human counterpart.
The cold, pragmatic European official granted unprecedented authority over every nation on Earth. She makes the ruthless decisions no one else will. Without her, the Hail Mary never launches.
A microscopic, single-celled life form that photosynthesizes stellar radiation and reproduces at an exponential rate. Part villain, part miracle of biology — Astrophage blurs the line between catastrophe and wonder.
Memorable Lines
Words from the Stars
“Human beings have a remarkable ability to accept the abnormal and make it normal.”
“Fist my bump.”
“When stupid ideas work, they become genius ideas.”
“Good. Proud. I am scary space monster. You are leaky space blob.”
The Film Adaptation
On the Big Screen
Amazon MGM Studios brought the story to theaters on March 20, 2026, with an all-star cast and a production team dedicated to honoring Andy Weir's vision.
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)
Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace and Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, with Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung and Milana Vayntrub
Amazon MGM Studios; produced by Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Aditya Sood
Drew Goddard, working closely with Andy Weir to preserve the novel's scientific heart and emotional core
The filmmakers took on the beloved challenge of bringing Rocky — one of sci-fi's most cherished alien characters — to the screen
HAIL MARY
The Science
Real Physics, Imagined Biology
Andy Weir built Project Hail Mary on a bedrock of real science — then let one extraordinary fictional organism break everything we know.