Project Hail Mary with Andy Weir

StarTalk Radio

Scientist, Nasa, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Climate Science, Earth Science, Nature, Astronomy, Science, Multiverse, Spacetime, Astrophysicist, Space, Education, Cosmos, Astronomer, Startalk, Quantum Physics, Physics, Universe, Astrophysics, Star Talk

4.6 • 14.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if a microscopic alien lifeform was slowly eating our sun? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice sit down with Andy Weir, the bestselling author of Project Hail Mary, for a deep dive into designing aliens, science fiction, and science behind the book (and the movie.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Andy, we're in the house.
0:01.4	Yes, he is.
0:02.0	Author of the novel, Project Hail Mary.
0:04.4	That's correct.
0:05.0	We're going to talk to him, but there's going to be spoilers.
0:07.4	Yeah, lots of spoilers.
0:08.6	You know why?
0:09.6	Because you didn't read the damn book.
0:11.0	That's right.
0:11.9	That's the problem.
0:12.9	Coming up on StarTalk.
0:16.7	Welcome to StarTalk.
0:19.3	Your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide.
0:25.2	StarTalk begins right now.
0:32.0	This is StarTalk.
0:34.7	Neil deGrasse, and your personal astrophysicist.
0:37.8	And right next to me, I got Lord Chuck Knight. What's up, Neil? How are you feeling? Man, I'm feeling great. Yeah. Yeah. You look good. Well, thank you, sir. You know, looking healthy. Well, that may not be the case, but, you know, it's good to look that way. You know, whether or not you actually are. Who cares if I'm actually healthy or not? As long as I look good.
1:13.8	We got a good show today. We certainly do. We have a repeat guest. That's correct. Many times. Many times. I looked at the numbers. I said, hasn't boy been on this show that many times? Yeah. And I said, no. Yeah. we have the one, the only, Andy Weir. Andy, hello.
1:13.2	Welcome back to StarTalk. Thanks for having me again. It's like your sixth time.
1:17.4	You think you guys would learn by now. You think? You keep writing books and we keep bringing
1:21.7	you back. I like it. You are birthed into this world as a, was it a software engineer?
1:28.0	Well, it took me a while between birth and becoming a software engineer, but yes.
	...

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