Nobody knows all the mysteries of outer space and this region has fascinated astronomers, astronauts and space geeks as much as it has fascinated moviemakers.

Let us look at some of these movies that dared to venture deep into the dark space and showed close encounters with and invasion by aliens, and man attempting to do the unimaginable to save the world and human race.

Armageddon (1998)

The 1998 American sci-fiction disaster movie was a blockbuster that showed an asteroid the size of Texas all set to hit the Earth within 18 days.

To avert this doomsday, NASA recruits a motley crew of oil drillers to land on the asteroid, dig a deep hole and drop a nuclear bomb to destroy it and thus divert its path. The top secret mission suffers a setback when a large chunk of asteroid destroying Shanghai.

The movie features a strong cast that includes Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler and Owen Wilson. Action, confusion and mayhem mark this adventure that has amazing visual effects.

Deep Impact (1998)

Also released in the same year as Armageddon, Deep Impact too focuses on the urgent need to act and stop a comet that is all set to hit Earth and it means possible extinction for Earthlings.

A secret joint US-Russian team gets ready to destroy the meteor before it destroys Earth, but a journalist (played by Tea Leoni) gets hold of the story and breaks it. Panic ensures in the public. Robert Duvall plays the last man to walk on the moon and now the one to lead the mission where everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

Ultimately, though, the collision of the comet’s huge pieces into Earth can’t be avoided. Governments around the world who have been preparing secret underground bunkers decided to evacuate select group of citizens to it.

Does the Earth get saved? Do millions die? These are plot secrets that you shouldn’t know until you watch it.

Independence Day (1996)

This is one of the highest-grossing alien invasion sci-fi movies that also won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing too.

Just a day before July 4, the American Independence Day, aliens decent on Earth in the shape of a giant spaceship that almost completely destroys New York, Los Angeles and Washington. There are of course some survivors, who will ultimately be the saviours of mankind, but they have only a day to do what they can to stop complete destruction of mankind and our Earth.

The grand visuals of the movie, solid performance by the cast — Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith and Bill Pullman — and a great soundtrack make Independence Day an interesting movie.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

This computer-animated 3-D film is the first animated theatrical film of the most popular of space sagas, the Star Wars. Here the clone wars has led to total chaos in the galaxy and it is up to the Jedi Knights to set things right and stop the dreaded droid army of the Separatists before they finish everyone and everything.

This is a treat for any Star Wars fans and the action is sure to please all others too.

Space Chimps (2008)

Ham III is the great-grandson of the first chimp to travel into space and now, because he has an astronaut’s genes, he is asked to blast into space on a rescue mission. Now Ham is really not the right monkey for the job because he is just too non-serious.

He is teamed up with two other chimps that are more technically suited for the mission, Titan, the commander of the mission and Lt. Luna, a fearless chimp. But after they set off, it is only Ham who can handle the outer space conditions best as they go about to help and free an alien race on an alien planet.

This is a really cute space adventure.

Space Buddies (2009)

This Disney’s family comedy released directly on DVD is the third in the Buddies series that those under 12 years will really love.

A litter of puppies accompany their master on a school field trip to a space centre and, before they know it, they are on board a new rocket that shoots off to the Moon! How these adorable pubs handle their surprise space adventure, land on the Moon and manage a takeoff is something you need to watch for yourself.

And unless you really, really have something against these cute little creatures, you will enjoy Space Buddies.

It Came from Outer Space (1953)

Let us now turn to an old movie on the topic of space and aliens, It Came from Outer Space, which is incidentally also Universal Studio’s first movie to be filmed in 3-D.

Here John Putnam (Richard Carlson), an amateur stargazer in Arizona desert, sees a meteor crash and goes to explore it with two friends. He is the only one who goes close to the object in the crater and there he sees a strange and horrifying alien. But a landslide cover up the space object and no one believes him that something sinister has landed from space. But soon people seem to be under some strange spell and John knows he has to act, and act fast.

Some other notable movies and some not notable ones are: Fly Me to the Moon (2008), about a housefly and its best friends who hitch a free ride to the moon on Apollo 11; Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), an epic adventure about a group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence.; and E.T. (1981), a classic that every child in those days watched at least once.— Ahzam Ahmed