In what may seem like an odd story, director Ridley Scott has sent the screenplay title page of his latest project The Martian into space. The page was taken for a ride on the maiden voyage of NASA's Orion Spacecraft, and included a drawing from the director himself depicting star Matt Damon as the title character. The page was taken from the original draft by Drew Goddard.

The title page features Matt Damon's stranded astronaut declaring: "I'll science the shit out of this planet." Which is an actual line from the book upon which the movie is based. The script page took flight on December 5, and embarked on a four and a half hour orbit 5600 miles above the Earth's surface. About the event, producer Aditya Sood stated:

"NASA really rolled out the red carpet for us. In the capsule they had some personal objects that were important to people involved in the Orion project and one of the things was Ridley's drawing on the cover page of The Martian script. This is a movie about people who are really passionate about science and space-travel, so that was a really great moment for us."

The Martian is based on Andy Weir's self-published sci-fi novel from 2012. The story follows Matt Damon as astronaut Watney, who is part of a science team conducting experiments on Mars. A storm forces the team to evacuate, but Watney is injured and presumed dead. He gets left behind to fend for himself. With no hope of rescue and resources running thin, the stranded spaceman decides to use the power of science to keep himself alive on the barren planet.

The Martian is currently shooting. Also starring in the movie alongside Matt Damon are Jessica Chastain, Michael Peña, Jeff Daniels and Donald Glover. The film will be released in November of next year. You can check out the screenplay title page with Ridley Scott's drawing here:

The Martian script page