To explore new solar systems, spacecraft employ something called “slingshotting”—essentially, using the gravitational pull of a planet or distant moon to slingshot themselves to another place. This is not unlike what ancient mariners in the Pacific did, as this short film from the science magazine Aeon explains, only they did it using currents, winds, and storms. “You can imagine these mariners as the NASA scientists of their day,” explains Geoff Manaugh. This animation was adapted from a post at BLDGBLOG, and is an Aeon original video made in collaboration with the filmmaker and animator Flora Lichtman.