One Direction's latest music video "Drag Me Down" hit a massive half a million views in just three hours even with the absence of former member Zayn Malik, who has parted ways with the most sought-after boy band since March this year.

Malik, who has reasoned out that he wanted to live the life of a normal 22 year-old in leaving the group, has otherwise signed a solo record deal with RCA Music last July. Some argue that Malik was the most powerful voice among the boys and a new release may challenge the band's most recent video, the Telegraph reported.

Meanwhile, the "Drag Me Down" video has been embraced by their fans worldwide which also featured the British quartet as astronauts training for an outer space voyage at NASA's John Space Center in Houston, Texas. BBC explained in a report that such "training" the group underwent from would show people how some real-life astronauts prepare themselves before going to actual missions in space.

Some highlights of the video showed the boys learning to drive a Mars Rover, the ground control which is extremely important for tracking and documentation, Harry Styles interacting with a robot and some band members exercising which is a core preparation for missions.

According to Libby Jackson, astronauts would have to exercise for at least two months in order to ensure that their bones would not detrimentally weaken while they are at zero-gravity in space. Jackson is an astronaut flight education program manager in the UK Space Agency.

Fans have also expressed their delight on social media and even compared 1D's current video to the "I Want It That Way" release of Backstreet Boys several years ago. The latter was shot in an airport. The older band retweeted the screengrab uploaded by a fan and congratulated One Direction on their success, as per Mail Online.