Project Hail Mary

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian–while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Project Hail Mary is a 2021 hard science fiction novel by American writer Andy Weir. It centers on science teacher and former biologist Ryland Grace, who wakes up aboard a spacecraft, afflicted with amnesia.

Project Hail Mary received generally positive reviews and was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The unabridged audiobook was read by Ray Porter and won the 2022 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year.

The novel was adapted into a film of the same name starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, and James Ortiz (as the voice of Rocky, and one of the five puppeteers). Drew Goddard wrote the screenplay (his second Andy Weir adaptation), and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller co-directed. It was released in theaters on March 20, 2026.

As of the week ending July 11, 2026, the book has been featured on the New York Times' best-seller list for 57 weeks in total.