The premise is actually in line with how NASA operates. Mission specialists are experts in their field and are given enough astronaut training to make the flight and survive on board with the other astronauts.

And the self-detonation thing is a trope, but let’s not pretend that James Cameron is above simple storytelling or that simple storytelling is bad. That moment doesn’t work because of the surprise thrill of “Oh no! Remote detonation!” but because of the emotional payoff between those three characters: Harry, AJ, and Grace.