In space, no one can hear you scream. Unless, that is, they are your fellow astronauts on the International Space Station and you’re all sitting through a screening of Alien.
The unlikely choice of in-flight entertainment for the occupants of the ISS, which has been in orbit since 1998, has been revealed after a freedom of information request by Gizmodo’s Matt Novak. The list, which contains more than 500 movies and TV shows, includes some questionable entries. As well as all four Alien films – which essentially detail the plight of isolated space travellers picked off by near-unkillable xenomorphs, astronauts can watch Gravity (a tyro astronaut barely survives a traumatic accident in orbit), Starship Troopers (humanity menaced by near-unkillable alien insectoids), and Moon (after an accident, an astronaut realises he is a clone). On the upside, the ISS residents can relax with such apparently harmless comedies as Zoolander, A Room With a View and Dodgeball.
The movie-screening abilities of the ISS were revealed in 2015, when station commander Scott Kelly tweeted a picture of the HD projection facilities, showing a still from Gravity.