NASA and Tom Cruise are in talks to shoot a movie onboard the International Space Station, the space agency's administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed in a tweet Tuesday.
Why it matters: NASA has been looking for new ways to try to commercialize the space station, and filming a movie on location in orbit could be one way to do just that.
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
What's happening: So far, no studio is attached to the project, and SpaceX may be involved, according to a report from Deadline, but details about the film are still scant.
The big question: It's not yet clear whether Cruise himself will fly to the space station for the film.
Background: "The idea of filming a movie in space is not new; directors James Cameron and Rian Johnson, for example, have spoken about their desires to shoot scenes from Earth orbit," Robert Pearlman, who runs the space history website CollectSPACE.com, told Axios.
- This wouldn't be Cruise's first brush with space either. The actor narrated the film "Space Station 3D" in 2002 that used footage gathered from orbit.
