In May 2020, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has announced that they will be filming a movie with Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise. The movie will be shot in an orbiting laboratory and it is very likely possible that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch Tom Cruise into outer space.
However, as interesting and sci-fi as it seems, it is far more dangerous than it is shown in the movies. But as NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise, they must have every detail sorted out, as it is not child’s play to travel to space. Though not much detail is known, Elon Musk has commented on this scenario supporting the project.
From Conquering the Skies to Conquering the Space
Tom Cruise‘s Top Gun is all about conquering the sky with his Grumman F-14 Tomcat and destroying the enemies with his unique movement and ariel maneuvers. The movie was released in 1986 and in 2022 Cruise made his comeback with Top Gun: Maverick and stands second best movie of the year with almost $1.5 billion at the box office worldwide.
In the movie, Tom Cruise’s character Pete Mitchell code-named Maverick can be seen cruising through the rough terrains to set a record with the F-18 Super Hornet. Although Tom Cruise did not get to fly the jet due to certain rules, in the movie’s final scene he was filmed piloting a P-51 Mustang.
So after conquering the sky with Top Gun, Tom Cruise is set to conquer space with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Elon Musk commented on the announcement of this project, “Should be fun”. The project is believed to start by late 2024 when the infrastructure required to shoot the film is completed in the ISS.
The Project Will Be Shot on the International Space Station
Space Entertainment Enterprise, a movie production company based in the United Kingdom recently stated that Axiom, a company that offers space flight to civilians, has been selected to go through with the plan of this project. They have been tasked with making a studio suitable enough for shooting the film in the ISS. Tom Cruise will travel to space on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and it will also have an ‘inflatable media venue module’ called SEE-1 that will be attached to the ISS.
The SEE-1 will be a round-shaped spacecraft with 6 meters of diameter and will include cutting-edge technology prepared by scientists from all over the world. Space Entertainment Enterprise founders Elena and Dmitry said,
“SEE-1 is an incredible opportunity for humanity to move into a different realm and start an exciting new chapter in space”
“It will provide a unique, and accessible home for boundless entertainment possibilities in a venue packed with innovative infrastructure which will unleash a new world of creativity”
The SEE is also building up plans to build a space infrastructure similar to the ISS only to be used for commercial purposes that will be placed in the lower orbits of Earth. Moreover, the SEE-1 will be further available for such projects even after Tom Cruise’s project is over. Dr. Michael Baine, Axiom’s Chief Engineer stated that the module will have a very sophisticated and a state of the art media production capability.
Source: Tesmanian
