Tom Cruise, NASA’s movie shoot in space: What we know so far
Love him or hate him, you cannot deny Tom Cruise has continuously pushed the envelope of action stunt work by a leading Hollywood actor. Be it scaling the tallest building in the world for Ghost Protocol, being the first actor to ever perform a HALO jump in Fallout, or holding his breath underwater for an insane six minutes for Rogue Nation, Cruise really works hard to earn his Mission: Impossible franchise paycheck.
And now, for his next jaw-dropping feat, Cruise wants to shoot a feature film aboard the International Space Station (ISS). If his stunt history is anything to go by, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cruise hang off the ISS to conduct a spacewalk – though no details of this upcoming adventure are available yet.
What we do know is that NASA has validated a scoop reported by Deadline, which claimed that Cruise is working with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to shoot an action film in outer space. “It’s not a Mission: Impossible film and no studio is in the mix at this stage… But this is real, albeit in the early stages of liftoff,” the report read.
In a tweet earlier today, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that the US space agency is indeed collaborating with the 57-year-old actor to shoot a film aboard the ISS. “We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA’s ambitious plans a reality,” Bridenstine said.
NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality. pic.twitter.com/CaPwfXtfUv
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 5, 2020
Even though NASA did not mention what role SpaceX would be playing in this arrangement, it is safe to assume that Cruise would ride to the ISS in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. “Should be a lot of fun!,” is what Musk said in reply to Bridenstine’s tweet.
This exciting news could not have come at a more opportune time since later this month, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will be the first crew to fly in the Crew Dragon capsule. NASA and SpaceX have zeroed down on May 27 as the date for the historic first astronaut launch aboard a private spacecraft from US soil.