It's said to be the closest any Hollywood space movie has come to being scientifically accurate.

But it appears that The Martian, starring Matt Damon, is being taken a little too seriously by some, with scores of people believing the sci-fi flick was based on a true story.

Tweets from people who watched the Ridley Scott film, which came out on Friday, reveal that a surprisingly large number of people are unaware that humankind has never set foot on Mars.

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Real? Scores of people appear to believe that the movie The Martian (pictured) was based on a true story

Mistaken: Dozens of people took to the internet to find out whether the sci-fi flick was based on a true story

Incorrect: Tweets from people who watched the Ridley Scott film reveal that a surprisingly large number of people thought it was a real story

Disbelief: Fellow cinema-goers were astounded when they heard people suggesting the plot was a true story

A barrage of tweets has shown that perhaps some people were not listening so closely during science class

The Martian, based on a novel of the same name, tells the fictional story of Mark Watney, a US astronaut abandoned on the Red Planet after his crew leave him behind, mistakenly thinking he has been killed in a dust storm.

The movie shows how Watney - played by Matt Damon - manages to stay alive on Mars with the hope of NASA launching a rescue mission.

It is common knowledge that the only celestial body mankind has set foot on, other than the Earth, is the moon. Or so you might think.

Life on Mars: Matt Damon plays an astronaut mistakenly left behind on Mars - where in the real world humans have never set foot

The Martian is said to be the closest any Hollywood space movie has come to being scientifically accurate

A barrage of tweets has shown that perhaps some people were not listening so closely during science class.

Angela Lynne tweeted: 'Sometimes I'm smart, and sometimes I Google "is The Martian based on a true story".'

She was not the only person to make the same mistake, with another user, called Ronin, posting: 'Just found out The Martian isn't based on a true story, honestly pretty disappointed.'

Embarrassed: Twitter user Lauren Hart also made the mistake of believing the movie was based on reality

The Martian is based on a book of the same name, bit not real life, as this tweeter's friend discovered

Director Sir Ridley Scott has been praised for keeping the film as realistic as possible, enlisting the help of NASA to ensure the plot is scientifically accurate... and some people fell for it

Unreal: It is common knowledge that the only other celestial body mankind has visited is the moon. Or so you might think...

Richie Abruscato dropped his grandmother in it, revealing that she had asked whether Matt Damon's character was really abandoned on the Red Planet

The Martian, based on a novel of the same name, tells the story of Mark Watney, a US astronaut abandoned on Mars. Hayden Picker's mother was unaware that it is fictional

Brian Maher said: 'Heard a girl say to her boyfriend on the way out of The Martian "was that true story?" I couldn't believe he didn't dump her on the spot!'

And it was not just young people making the mistake. Richie Abruscato tweeted: 'As great as The Martian" was, my favorite part was after when my grandma asks if it was based on a true story.'

Hayden Picker wrote: 'Genuinely bothered that my mom thought The Martian was a true story.'

Even US women's soccer player Kelley O'Hara, a Stanford University graduate, tweeted that she thought The Martian was based on a true story. However, she later tweeted that her earlier post was a joke.