Image Caption: Sandra Bullock as Ryan Stone in Warner Bros. Pictures' dramatic thriller "Gravity," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

[ Watch The Video: NASA Astronaut Cady Colemen on Gravity Oscar Win ]

NASA

NASA congratulates everyone involved with producing the movie Gravity for all of the Oscar wins, especially Alfonso Cuarn for winning Best Director at the 86th Academy Awards Ceremony held on March 2, 2014.

In the Warner Bros. movie Gravity, two astronauts find themselves adrift in space and struggling for survival after their spacecraft is destroyed by space debris. Although this scenario makes for gripping Hollywood entertainment, NASA actively works to protect its astronauts and vehicles from the dangers portrayed in the movie.

From protective material coating the outside of the International Space Station to meticulous and methodical training on the ground and in space covering everything from spacewalking to fires or decompression inside the space station, NASAs ground crews and astronauts are as prepared as they can be for potential anomaly, no matter how remote they may be.

On Sept. 16, Expedition 26 astronaut Cady Coleman spoke with actress Sandra Bullock to discuss Bullocks character in the movie. While developing her role, Bullock gave Coleman a call while she was aboard the space station. At the time, the actress asked Coleman to elaborate on what its like living and moving about in microgravity. I told her that I had long hair, and if you pulled a hair out and pushed it against something, you could move yourself across the space station, said Coleman. Thats how little force it takes.

Featured alongside Bullock and George Clooney, Gravity has another major star: the International Space Station. Look closely during the films interior shots of the space station and you may get a glimpse into whats really going on 240 miles above Earth. To focus on the facts behind the fiction, Coleman recalled her own experience living and working in space aboard the orbiting laboratory after an advanced screening of the film. This isnt a documentary; its a movie, said Coleman. It transports people from this planet into space. I am really lucky, as an astronaut, to get to go and live there.

[ Watch The Video: NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino on "Gravity" Award Win ] Viewers of the movie may notice that free water forms spheres in space. Although special effects helped this occur in the movie, this is a true phenomenon. It is the result of surface tension, and the Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) is helping predict liquid behavior in microgravity. Coleman gained hands-on experience with this investigation during Expedition 26, assisting researchers in studying how fluids flow in containers with complex geometries. These findings provide insight used to build better ground water transportation on Earth, as well as improved cooling capabilities for electronics using heat pipes. This information also applies to the design for fuel tanks in spacecraft for long duration exploration.

Fire also plays a role in the movie, and two studies underway on the space station touch on this topic: the Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) investigation and the Flame Extinguishment Experiment (FLEX). FLEX recently made headlines when the space station study led to the discovery of cool flames. Findings from BASS may contribute to improved fire suppression methods for spacecraft. FLEX may lead to improved fuel efficiency on Earth and minimize pollutants in our atmosphere associated with combustion.

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NASA Congratulates 'Gravity' Crew On Academy Award Wins