From Superman's Kryptonite to the Star Trek crew spending a lifetime traversing the universe, evidence of space travel has occupied science fiction for ages. Now, we are in a new era: real life is catching up with fiction. Nations have sent extended missions to the Moon and Mars, and recently the OSIRIS-Rex brought rocks and dust from the asteroid 101955 Bennu down to Earth. To understand how real life can catch up with fiction (or cannot), we look at liquid crystals, the substances that are the secret of life itself. Liquid crystals are all around and in us. They are the material used in the displays that surround us - telephones, t.v.s, and computers - and the molecules that make life possible. In short, they are essential to us and to everything else that lives. Through a study of liquid crystals and their phases, students will learn the tools to address such pressing concerns as why extremes of temperature and pressure affect life the way they do, and what we can do about it.