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Lee Min Ho is back with a new Korean drama entitled "When the Stars Gossip," which premiered its first episode on January 4, 2025 and is available on Netflix. Two episodes are being released every weekend. As of this writing, the first two episodes are out and that's what I'm going to review in this post. 😁I think the last drama I watched starring Lee Min Ho was The King: Eternal Monarch (which I heavily did an episode-by-episode review on the blog 😆). That was around 5 years ago already so I'm so excited to see him again in this series! 🥰
"When the Stars Gossip" has an interesting premise, as the characters and plot revolve around astronauts in space (at least that was mainly the focus of the first two episodes). As someone who is interested in space and astronomy, seeing Lee Min Ho in a space suit is a huge turn on (LOL) 😍. He plays such a new kind of character here. He plays Gong Ryong, an obstetrician gynecologist (OB/GYN) and lives a middle-class life. This time, his love interest is the chaebol or the rich girl. I'm so used to him being the snobbish and spoiled rich kid. He is the underdog this time for this drama.
A lot of details about an astronaut's journey to space were presented in the drama and I couldn't help but do some more research to see which of them were accurately portrayed and which one of them were done just for theatrics. Here are some of these fun trivia presented in the drama.
💡Trivia #1: Astronauts get to have a song request played during rocket launch. TRUE. ✅
In the first episode, the crew at the mission control station asked Gong Ryong for his song request before the rocket launch. Well this actually happens in space missions. Songs are chosen during astronauts' wakeup calls as well as pre-launch activities. This practice has become a tradition and a meaningful part of the space exploration culture.💡Trivia #2: Rockets are prone to lightning strikes during launch. TRUE. ✅
This scenario was presented still in the first episode, where the rocket launched into space was struck by lightning several times as it passed through a storm cloud. This is an uncommon scenario, and rockets are built to withstand lightning strikes. There is an actual incident where this happened. Apollo 12 (1969) rocket was struck by lightning twice during its ascent. Despite this, the ascent continued safely, and all astronauts aboard were safe.
💡Trivia #3: Astronauts have medical cables attached to them, with stats being transferred and monitored by doctors back on Earth . TRUE. ✅
This monitoring is especially critical during key points in the mission, such as the launch, shortly after exposure to zero gravity, and during the return to Earth. Doctors monitor vital signs, like heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and body temperature, to ensure the safety of each of the astronauts during the entire mission.
💡Trivia #4: "SuitSat" project is a space suit recycled as a satellite. TRUE. ✅
Interestingly, the SuitSat project is true, and only involved one space suit -- an old Russian Orlan space suit from 2006, which was repurposed to include a radio transmitter that broadcast messages to the Earth. SuitSat transmitted data and messages for a brief period before reentering Earth's atmosphere and burning up. The timeline is just not accurate in the drama since SuitSat is not floating in space anymore.
💡Trivia #5: Astronauts have different roles in the space station. TRUE. ✅
The drama accurately portrayed the commander and pilot roles during a space mission. There's even one scene wherein when the rocket's automation failed, and the pilot had to manually align the rocket during the docking process to the space station. Typically, there are six crew members on the space station, which aligns with the depiction in the drama.
💡Trivia #6: It is expensive to bring ice cream to space. TRUE. ✅
With the help of ChatGPT, I checked how much it would cost to send a cup of ice cream into space, and according to its calculation, the cost ranges from $17,500 to $35,000. And this is just for one cup 🤯.
Despite the cost to bring items to space, astronauts are given the privilege of the Personal Preference Kit (PPK), a shoe-box size bag where they can bring personal items with them in space. Typically, astronauts bring family photographs, mementos, and other sentimental items with them. Some interesting PPKs through the years: During the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong brought a piece of wood from the Wright Brothers' flyer in his PPK. Buzz Aldrin, also in Apollo 11, brought a communion kit, which he used to take the communion on the moon. Chris Hadfield brought his guitar to the International Space Station, which he used to record the iconic "Space Oddity" music video.
💡Trivia #7: There are mating experiments on animals in space. TRUE. ✅
There have been a lot of experiments in the past, but were limited due to ethical concerns raised for these kinds of experiments.
💡Trivia #8: Surgeries have been done in space. FALSE. ❌
No surgeries yet have been performed in space at this point, but one major milestone was the surgical robot brought to the International Space Station, which involves robotic arms being controlled by surgeons on Earth. So far they are doing simulated surgeries only using this equipment. Maybe this is the reason why in the drama, it was such a huge breaking news when the crew was able to revive the mice through a surgery. 😁
It has been enjoyable for me to research all these trivia tidbits, and I am learning many new things about astronauts and space missions through this drama. While I am not as hooked on the plot yet, I hope the story becomes richer and develops more layers as additional episodes are released next week. So excited! 🚀🌌
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