This is a rescue mission to find out what happened to the first crew on mars. If they get there, what are they about to find?
I think of this movie as a combination of:
“Contact” (1997) only they kept on going.
“Close Encounters of The Third Kind” (1977) Martian style
“Rocketship X-M” (1950) with a message
It has good actors Gary Sinise (helped rebuild schools in Iraq), Tim Robbins among others. I did not see any strings holding the spaceship up. The only thing that I found negative is the VHS version has 20 plus minutes of commercials on the front end. You forget what you put in by the time it starts (if you do not wander off). I will watch it again.