Tom Cruise to Shoot a Film in Space with NASA Support in Cinematic First06.05.2020

Rumors of the film, expected to be shot aboard the International Space Station, have been confirmed by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Elon Musk has also expressed support for the production.  

“NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise 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,” Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.  

According to Deadline, Elon Musk and his SpaceX are expected to play a significant part in the production. While no details have been revealed, and the billionaire entrepreneur has released no official statement aside from tweeting “Should be a lot of fun!”, it is expected that it will be a SpaceX ship that will ferry the actor and film crew into outer space. Some have been linking the production with recent SpaceX announcements unveiling its plans to begin civilian spaceflight operations in late 2021 or 2022. The first crewed SpaceX mission to the International Space Station, manned by NASA astronauts, is expected to launch later this May. 

While the picture will not be a part of the popular Mission: Impossible series, the blockbuster series centered around the exploits of superspy Ethan Hunt, first launched in 1996, perfectly showcases Cruise’s range. Across six installments in the franchise released to date (and two planned for future release), Cruise has repeatedly proven himself peerless in terms of shooting action scenes. Widely known for doing his own stunts, Cruise has scaled skyscrapers, drove cars and rode motorcycles in high-speed chases, held on for dear life to a cargo airplane during takeoff, and flew a chopper. For the 2018 chapter in the series, Fallout, Cruise even performed the incredibly high-altitude, low-opening (HALO) parachute jump, launching himself from a plane flying 8,000 meters above sea level. Given his track record with wild stunts, it would seem that Tom Cruise really is poised to become the first actor to shoot a film in outer space.