That vast expanse. The glorious wonders of the universe. And Brad Pitt or Natalie Portman to take us there.

If you work in Hollywood long enough, eventually your star may rise high enough to reach, like, actual stars. For decades, the industry has relied on famous names to send space movies (and hopefully their box office) into the stratosphere. This fall, Disney (by way of its recent acquisitions 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight) is bringing us the star-driven space movies “Ad Astra” and “Lucy in the Sky.” Here is a look at the tradition of big names in big space movies, and how it worked out for them.