20 Mind-Blowing Facts About Alien Movies

Say what you want about Prometheus but there’s no denying the movie was stunning, at least in a visual sense. And its NASA that we’ve got to thank for the authentic, aesthetic appeal of the first Alien prequel, especially the look of LV-223.

As well as taking inspiration from dramatic terrestrial locations like Iceland’s Vatnajokull National Park and Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert, Prometheus’ visual effects team studied NASA satellite images of Mars (its looming Olympus Mons volcano in particular) and other planets to inform LV-233’s terrain and had the added benefit of a visit from NASA advisers to inform them what distant exo-planets could potentially look like.

The look of the titular spaceship was inspired by NASA spacecraft designs too, though obviously suitably futurized and pimped up a bit.