RJ Writing Ink’s Picks for Best Moon Movies

It took us almost fifty-four years, but we did it; mankind has sent human beings back to the Moon. In April 2026, the Artemis II mission made history, not only returning us to the Moon, but flying further than any human being has ever gone before. And it’s only the start. If all goes well, we’ll be sending people to land on its surface, not just to visit, but to stay. But it’s not just the public response to Artemis II that has made it clear that we’ve wanted to go back to the Moon; it’s the media we consume. In the decades before and after the Apollo program, there have been so many movies about going to the moon. Some are based on real life, while others are fantastical in scope. Regardless, though, with Moon fever born anew, I’m betting people are going to want to start watching more movies about space travel.

Apollo 13 (1995)

The successful failure; NASA’s finest hour. Whatever you call it, Apollo 13 was the stuff of legends. For the span of a few short days, the entire world held its collective breath as Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert fought like Hell to make it back home alive. In 1995, Ron Howard immortalized the mission with his film Apollo 13. With an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, and more, and an absolutely incredible soundtrack by James Horner, Apollo 13 is a banger from start to finish. As a personal aside, it should be noted that the late Jim Lovell left a pre-recorded message for the crew of Artemis II that played on the day of their lunar flyby. And that Artemis II broke the record 13 set for furthest a human has trevaeld from the Earth. Here’s hoping we break that record in the next decade or so.

First Man (2018)

Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the Moon, but when he was alive, he never cared about the fame that brought him. Regardless, that doesn’t change the fact that he was still the man in charge of the mission that got us there. And as the 2018 biopic film, First Man, shows, he was the right man for the job. With Ryan Gosling in the role of Armstrong, First Man chronicles the late Astronaut’s life through the 60s, showing how his cool temperament ultimately earned him the right to be the first man on the Moon. At the same time, though, it shows the grief he went through in his personal life as he lost his daughter and friends in the space program. The best part, though, is the actual moon landing, which is done without music or drama, reflecting what it was really like for the astronauts. It’s pretty dang cool.

The Right Stuff (1983)

Okay, technically this isn’t a movie about going to the Moon. However, considering how it covers the exploits of Chuck Yeager and the pilots who would become NASA’s Mercury Seven, who helped get us to the Moon, I think an exception can be made. Without Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier and the grit and determination of those hotshot pilots, we never would have made it to the Moon. Rumor has it that if Gus hadn’t died in Apollo 1, Deke would’ve given him the honors of first on the Moon. I don’t know about you, but I think this movie is pretty darn important to our journey to the stars.

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

We can’t include any list about trips to the Moon without including the OG sci-fi film, Le Voyage dans la Lune. Inspired by two Jules Verne stories about trips to the Moon, this whimsical tale of six explorers riding a bullet to the Moon was one of the first movies ever made. We know that none of the things that happen in it are remotely possible, but it’s just so entertaining to watch. And that image of an irritated Man in the Moon with the ship sticking out of his eye is hilarious!

The bottom line is that despite NASA putting Moon missions on the backburner for decades, we’ve never truly lost our desire to travel to the stars. If anything, the wait should only make us more determined to get it done. Because if there’s even the remote chance that I could live and work on the Moon in my lifetime, I’m going to take it!