Movies like Approaching the Unknown

If you like "Approaching the Unknown" you are looking for psychological, captivating and tense movies about / with trapped in space, mars, astronaut, space, survival, space travel and hopes themes of Drama, Sci-Fi and Thriller genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
Approaching the Unknown (2016)
 4.9
 9K
Approaching the Unknown (2016)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: Captain William Stanaforth is on a one-way solo mission to take the first steps in colonising Mars. Like all pioneers throughout history, Stanaforth will face insurmountable odds and life and death decisions as he rockets bravely through space.
Style: psychological, captivating, tense, suspense, futuristic, suspenseful, disturbing
Audience: teens, boys' night, girls' night
Plot: trapped in space, mars, astronaut, space, survival, space travel, hopes, distant planet, isolation, nasa, human spirit, escapades, danger, trapped, peril, loneliness, science, rescue, stranded, outer space, lonely, martian, space mission, white supremacy, desert ...
Time: future

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to Approaching the Unknown

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out suspense, captivating, futuristic and suspenseful films with plots about spacecraft, space, outer space, astronaut, trapped in space, space travel and space exploration mostly in Sci-Fi, Drama and Thriller genres. Some movies like Approaching the Unknown: Gravity (2013), Ad Astra (2019), Passengers (2016), Stranded (2001), Stowaway (2021). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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 7.7
 860K
Gravity (2013)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first Shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The Shuttle is destroyed, leaving ...
Style: atmospheric, suspenseful, scenic, suspense, minimal cast ...
Audience: teens, kids, chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot: isolation, survival, space travel, space, astronaut, outer space, space station, loneliness, disaster, sole survivor, catastrophe, survivor ...
Time: year 2013, 2010s, future, 21st century
Place: los angeles, persia, seattle, houston texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.5
 259K
Ad Astra (2019)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, China, Brazil
Duration: 123 min.
Story: An astronaut travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. He uncovers secrets which challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos.
Style: exciting, suspense, futuristic, touching, suspenseful ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: space exploration, outer space, astronaut, moon, solar system, obsession, father son relationship, space pirate, space travel, spacecraft, trapped in space, space station ...
Time: 2010s, future, year 2019, near future
Place: space western
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 7.0
 443K
Passengers (2016)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 116 min.
Story: A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.
Style: futuristic, romantic, scenic, dramatic, exciting ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, date night, family friendly
Plot: space travel, outer space, isolation, survival, love story, space program, loneliness, trapped in space, love, space station, malfunction, space ...
Time: future, year 2016, 2010s
Place: space western, los angeles, america
⇓ similarity ⇓
82%
 5.3
 3K
Stranded (2001)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Spain
Duration: 99 min.
Story: A team of astronauts on the first mission to Mars crashes onto the surface, losing contact with Earth. With no other recourse, and help millions of miles away, the crew is forced to make desperate choices in order to stay alive. Will they be able to ...
Style: thought provoking, suspenseful, serious, tense, hispanic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: space travel, spaceship crash, survival, space and aliens, mars, space, astronaut, heroic mission, save the world, alien encounter, rescue, danger ...
Time: future
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
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 5.7
 52K
Stowaway (2021)
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.
Style: futuristic, suspense, minimal cast, tense, exciting ...
Audience: teens
Plot: space travel, outer space, space, trapped in space, spacecraft, mars, space exploration, space adventure, teamwork, struggle for survival, survival, astronaut ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.6
 3K
Missions (2017)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: France
Duration: 26 min.
TV show
Story: The first manned mission to Mars is now approaching the red planet. The crew includes top-flight scientists and a young female psychiatrist, responsible for their mental health. But just as they are about to land, something goes wrong.
Style: disturbing, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense
Plot: outer space, mars, spacecraft, astronaut, female astronaut, cosmonaut, space mission, space exploration, trapped in space, space travel, problem, space program ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 8.0
 916K
The Martian (2015)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Hungary, Jordan
Duration: 144 min.
Story: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw ...
Style: futuristic, biting, clever, realistic, serious ...
Audience: teens, kids, girls' night
Plot: survival, mars, astronaut, space travel, stranded, nasa, isolation, outer space, science, scientist, space, loneliness ...
Time: year 2015, 2010s, year 2016, 2030s, near future ...
Place: china, london, houston texas, pasadena california, north america ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
67%
 7.8
 375K
Moon (2009)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: With only three weeks left in his three year contract, Sam Bell is getting anxious to finally return to Earth. He is the only occupant of a Moon-based manufacturing facility along with his computer and assistant, GERTY. When he has an accident ...
Style: psychological, philosophical, suspense, futuristic, cerebral ...
Audience: adult
Plot: isolation, moon, outer space, loneliness, space travel, astronaut, solitude, cloning, space and aliens, robot, dystopic future, space ...
Time: future, year 2009, 2010s, near future, y2k ...
Place: hawaii, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
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 7.2
 266K
Sunshine (2007)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last ...
Style: futuristic, suspense, philosophical, psychological, thought provoking ...
Plot: space travel, outer space, end of the world, sun, earth, self sacrifice, spaceship, expedition, astronaut, heroic mission, space, danger ...
Time: future, year 2007, distant future, 2000s, 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 4.4
 11K
400 Days (2015)
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: 4 would be astronauts spend 400 days in a land locked space simulator to test the psychological effects of deep space travel but, when something goes terribly wrong and they are forced to leave the simulation, they discover that everything on earth ...
Style: psychological, suspense, suspenseful, harsh, smart ...
Plot: parallel universe, space, trapped in space, experiment, space travel, astronaut, end of the world, insanity, isolation, catastrophe, paranoia, destiny ...
Time: future
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 6.3
 34K
Prospect (2018)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving ...
Style: psychotronic, mysterious, cyber, psychological, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: loss of father, father daughter relationship, stranger, rescue, young girl, space, survival, distopia, outer space, partner, alien planet, treasure ...
Time: future
Place: space western
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
 3.5
 2K
Solitary (2020)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min.
Story: A man wakes up inside a room to discover he's a prisoner sent into space to form Earth's first colony, and worse - his cell mate Alana is hell bent on destroying everything.
Style: tense, psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing ...
Plot: prisoner, survival, stranded, peril, left for dead, struggle for survival, space and aliens, danger, escapades, couples, male protagonist, rescue ...
Time: future
Place: europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
34%
 3.6
 2K
Dune Drifter (2020)
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min.
Story: When the trainee pilot and her mortally wounded gunner are shot down, they crash land on a nearby planet. An enemy craft offers the chance of spare parts to fix her ship, but then she spots another survivor - an enemy alien soldier with no intention ...
Style: suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, captivating ...
Plot: distant planet, rescue, struggle for survival, danger, chase, survival, escapades, peril, youth, astronaut, chases and races, left for dead ...
Time: future
Place: europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
28%
Mission to Mars (2000)
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: France, Canada, USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: When contact is lost with the crew of the first Mars expedition, a rescue mission is launched to discover their fate.
Style: futuristic, serious, suspense, sentimental, atmospheric ...
Plot: mars, space travel, astronaut, space station, alien, alien encounter, spacecraft, mysterious planet, trapped in space, space, space and aliens, nasa ...
Time: future, year 2000, y2k, 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
 4.5
 6K
3022 (2019)
Genre: Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: A group of astronauts living in the haunting emptiness of deep space awakens to find earth has suffered an extinction-level event.
Style: suspenseful, suspense, exciting, futuristic, visually appealing ...
Plot: spacecraft, asteroids and comets, outer space, trapped in space, space, astronaut, survival, space shuttle, space station, space travel, space program, disaster ...
Time: future, 22nd century
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Beyond White Space (2018)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Hungary, Japan
Duration: 93 min.
Story: When a deep space fishing vessel is robbed by a gang of pirates, the Captain makes a daring decision to go after a rare and nearly extinct species. His obsession propels them further into space as the crew spins toward mutiny and betrayal.
Style: tense, captivating, disturbing, suspense, futuristic ...
Audience: teens, boys' night
Plot: space travel, outer space, harvest, alien, fight, hunting, alien monster, escapades, danger, mission, extraterrestrial, alien contact ...
Time: future, 22nd century
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 5.7
 60K
Red Planet (2000)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Astronauts search for solutions to save a dying Earth by searching on Mars, only to have the mission go terribly awry.
Style: futuristic, bleak, atmospheric, suspenseful, stylized ...
Plot: mars, survival, space travel, astronaut, robot, space, space opera, spacecraft, catastrophe, save the world, ecological disaster, desert ...
Time: future, year 2000, y2k, 2020s, 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 5.4
 9K
Love (2011)
Genre: Drama, Music, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story: After losing contact with Earth, Astronaut Lee Miller becomes stranded in orbit alone aboard the International Space Station. As time passes and life support systems dwindle, Lee battles to maintain his sanity - and simply stay alive. His world is a ...
Style: futuristic, psychological, thought provoking, mind bending, surreal ...
Plot: isolation, space travel, trapped in space, space, astronaut, space and aliens, loneliness, survival, human nature, stranded, solitude, losing-it hero ...
Time: future, 2010s, 2030s, 2040s, 1860s
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
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The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: When astronaut Spencer Armacost returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian, more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems ...
Style: suspenseful, psychological, surprise ending, suspense, scary ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: woman in danger, alien, outer space, space, astronaut, pregnancy, nasa, danger, space travel, alien invasion, space and aliens, suburbs ...
Time: 90s, year 1999, future
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
 4.9
 7K
The Beyond (2017)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Set in 2019, The Beyond chronicles the groundbreaking mission which sent astronauts - modified with advanced robotics, through a newly discovered wormhole known as the Void. When the mission returns unexpectedly, the space agency races to discover ...
Style: futuristic, enigmatic, suspense, captivating, tense ...
Plot: space exploration, found footage, trapped in space, space travel, alien invasion, robot, space mission, human in outer space, hi-tech, space program, discovery, advanced technology ...
Time: future, near future
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Trapped in Space (1994)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: After an accident during a routine trip to Venus, a spaceship has only enough oxygen left for three people... out of five on board.
Style: suspense, exciting, tense, captivating, space horror ...
Plot: asteroid, survival, spacecraft, space travel, astronaut, space, rescue, survivor, space opera, oxygen, disaster, venus the planet ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 5.9
 8K
Orbiter 9 (2017)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Spain, Colombia
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Helena, a young woman on a deep space mission, has been alone for 20 years. Her parents abandoned ship after a technical malfunction made it impossible for all three of them to reach their intended destination. Alex, an isolated engineer, is about ...
Style: captivating, surprise ending, exciting, suspense, twisted ...
Audience: teens
Plot: female astronaut, love story, space travel, secret laboratory, space station, trapped in space, scientist, rescue, love affair, space opera, space, distopia ...
Time: future
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
 5.7
 4K
Virtuality (2009)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 87 min.
Story: Twelve extremely talented men and women have been chosen to be part of the Phaeton mission, a 10-year trek to explore a distant planetary system. In order to endure the stress of being confined to their high-tech vessel, the crew passes the time ...
Style: exciting, atmospheric, suspenseful, futuristic, space horror ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: virtual reality, spacecraft, outer space, space, survival, save the world, danger, escape from reality, imaginary, trapped in space, murder, crew ...
Time: future
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
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 4.8
 6K
Settlers (2021)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Remmy and her parents, refugees from Earth, have found peace on the Martian outskirts until strangers appear in the hills beyond their farm. Told as a triptych, the film follows Remmy as she struggles to survive in an uneasy landscape.
Style: suspense, tense, disturbing, captivating, minimal cast
Plot: mars, alien attack, space station, space program, life, age difference, secret, space mission, humanity, battles, cosmonaut, life is a bitch ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 5.4
 7K
Capsule (2015)
Genre: Drama, History, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Guy is an experienced British fighter pilot who is in command of Britain's first manned mission to space. He has trained for this for three years at the height of the Cold War and now he is alone in space with a malfunctioning capsule. He has ...
Style: suspenseful, captivating, disturbing, suspense
Plot: space, astronaut, space exploration, spy, deception, spaceship crash, trapped in space, human in outer space, trapped, cosmonaut, struggle for survival, spacewalk ...
Time: 1950s
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 6.6
 251K
Life (2017)
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: The six-member crew of the International Space Station is tasked with studying a sample from Mars that may be the first proof of extra-terrestrial life, which proves more intelligent than ever expected.
Style: suspense, scary, apocalyptic, tense, suspenseful ...
Audience: adult
Plot: space travel, space, mars, outer space, monster, alien, space station, astronaut, survival horror, alien life-form, extraterrestrial life, first contact ...
Time: year 2017, 2010s, near future
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
 6.1
 20K
Cargo (2009)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 112 min.
Story: The story of CARGO takes place on rusty space-freighter KASSANDRA on its way to Station 42. The young medic LAURA is the only one awake on board while the rest of the crew lies frozen in hibernation sleep. In 4 months will Laura's shift be over.
Style: futuristic, suspenseful, suspense, philosophical, tense ...
Plot: space travel, outer space, spacecraft, isolation, space and aliens, dystopia, post apocalypse, distopia, uncover truth, danger, teleportation, alien ...
Time: future, 23rd century, near future
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
 4.7
 408
Project-M (2014)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Four astronauts have to stay 1000 days in a space station around Earth in order to prove that a trip to Europa, one of Jupiter's moon, is possible. The experience goes well until something happens on earth.
Style: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Plot: astronaut, space station, space mission, space exploration, spacecraft, cosmonaut, human in outer space, mission, space program, trapped in space, outer space
Time: near future, future
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
 5.0
 4K
Rubikon (2022)
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 110 min.
Story: The company soldier Hannah and the scientists Gavin and Dimitri are researching an algae project on board the Rubikon space station, which is supposed to permanently supply humanity with oxygen and food. But suddenly the earth disappears below them ...
Style: futuristic, captivating, disturbing, suspense, suspenseful ...
Plot: space station, planet, space, apocalypse, save the world, rescue, struggle for survival, fate of humanity, rescue mission, humanity, human in outer space, moral dilemma ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
Lucy in the Sky (2019)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: Astronaut Lucy Cola returns to Earth after a transcendent experience during a mission to space – and begins to lose touch with reality in a world that now seems too small.
Style: realistic, captivating, stylized, futuristic, disturbing ...
Plot: astronaut, space travel, female astronaut, nasa, space, husband wife relationship, getting home, women, strong female character, peril, in love, flying ...
Time: future, 21st century
Place: san diego california
⇓ similarity ⇓
22%
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