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.
Where Project Hail Mary keeps showing up
Five of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Also by Andy Weir
Books in conversation with Project Hail Mary
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about Project Hail Mary
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A man wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is. He soon realizes he is the last hope of an Earth dying from a sun-eating microbe, and he is not the only species out here.
Yes. A film adaptation directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, starring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, is scheduled to release in 2026. Andy Weir has been involved in the project.
Project Hail Mary is fictional, but Andy Weir built the story around real principles of physics, chemistry, and biology. He extrapolates from current science and is careful to flag where he speculates. Many concepts are plausible within current understanding.
No. Project Hail Mary is a standalone novel and is not connected to The Martian. Both share Andy Weir's voice and a focus on a problem-solving protagonist alone in space, but the characters and settings are entirely separate.
Project Hail Mary uses a conversational first-person voice similar to The Martian. The science is dense but explained in plain language as it comes up. Most readers find it accessible despite the technical concepts.
Project Hail Mary was written by Andy Weir, published in 2021 by Ballantine Books.
Project Hail Mary is 496 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Project Hail Mary takes most readers 7 to 11 hours to finish.
Project Hail Mary is a standalone novel by Andy Weir, not part of a series.
Project Hail Mary is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
