- The only thing I've ever known

for sure in my life is that I wanna be

on the first mission to Mars.

- [Narrator] Is this a lie?

While Hilary Swank plays an astronaut in the series "Away,"

did you know that Swank's childhood dream

at five years old, even before wanting to become an actor,

was actually to be an astronaut in real life?

That was the first of 21 facts and one lie based

on the series "Away."

Share this video and give us a thumbs up

to make sure you never miss any mind-blowing facts.

(rocket roaring)

To make this fictional space mission

as realistic as possible, a former NASA astronaut,

Mike Massimino, helped with production

to nail all the space details.

- [Female Reporter] A recent predicts a 50-50 chance you

won't survive this mission.

- [Narrator] Mars is a tricky planet to reach.

From Earth, there have been a total

of 56 non-manned missions to Mars.

Only 26 were successful.

- [Male Reporter] How about your family?

How do they feel about you leaving them for three years?

- [Narrator] Because Mars has a longer orbit around the sun,

its years are twice as long as years on Earth.

Currently, NASA's Perseverance rover is on its way to Mars

with a landing date of February 2021.

Its goal is to find signs of ancient life

and collect rock and soil samples.

Swank's character was inspired

by real-life astronaut Peggy Whitson,

who happens to be from the same hometown as Swank's parents.

Mars is home to the tallest mountain

in the entire solar system,

a volcano called Olympus Mons that stands three times

as tall as Mount Everest.

- I asked him to help.

- I've only been in that sweaty simulator.

I wanna get to taste the real thing.

- [Misha] I assume you can patch a leak.

- Apparently, better than you.

- [Narrator] A key part of any space mission wardrobe

are the mission patches.

Each space mission has an intricate patch

that the real-life astronauts help design.

Mars may have the potential to support human life

because of the presence of water.

NASA discovered ice on Mars in 2008.

"Away's" costume designer is no stranger to astronaut chic.

She also designed space suits

for the show "Stranger Things."

- Commander, welcome to one-six gravity.

- [Narrator] The cast did an astronaut training boot camp

to practice wire work and emulate how bodies move

in low-gravity environments.

Mark Invanir, who plays Russian astronaut Misha Popov,

had a secret advantage as a former circus performer.

He was already doing back flips

when the cast practiced wire work.

- This is Commander Emma Green here on the moon.

- [Narrator] Swank said the most challenging part

of simulating space was slowly moving your body

to simulate low gravity while talking at a normal speed.

Moving in slow mo makes you want

to slow down your words, too.

- [Unison] To Mars.

- A mission to Mars takes three years,

so astronauts have to pack a lot of food,

like 24,000 pounds of food.

Designing the spaceship set for "Away"

included adding a lot of food storage space

to make it realistic.

(door clanking and hissing)

To make the "Away" spaceship feel true to life,

the set design team researched real plans

for future space modules

from NASA's Orion spacecraft to SpaceX.

Any Mars mission requires preparing

for temperatures that differ from Earth.

A summer day on Mars can get up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you think that you can handle the heat,

don't forget to stick around until the end

to find out which fact is actually a lie.

(crickets chirping) (piano playing out of tune)

Josh Charles's character, Matt,

is both an astronaut and a composer.

While Charles knows how to play guitar in real life,

he had to learn piano for the role.

While Mars is the most accessible planet from Earth,

it's still 140 million miles away.

According to NASA, a trip to Mars

would take about three years.

(Lu speaks in foreign language)

(boy speaks in foreign language)

- [Narrator] The astronauts of "Away"

bring multiple languages to the table.

Vivian Wu, who plays Chinese astronaut Lu Wang,

speaks English, Chinese, and Russian throughout the series.

- [Misha] Say cheese, astronauts.

- [Narrator] If you wish you were taller,

you should leave Earth.

Astronauts can grow up to two inches taller in space

from the lack of gravity compressing their vertebrae.

"Away" visits some of the more unpleasant aspects

of space travel, like losing part of your foot.

After being in space for weeks,

astronauts begin shedding large pieces

of skin from the soles of their feet.

- [Emma] A hell of a privilege to be up here.

- [Narrator] "Away" is loosely based

on an article written for "Esquire Magazine" in 2014.

The author joined the writing staff for the show.

Could you spot the lie?

(atmospheric futuristic music)

While the weather on Mars is different from Earth,

the highest recorded temperature on Mars

is only 86 degrees Fahrenheit

with its lower temperature at an icy negative 220 degrees.

See you next time.