A single tweet from NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine drew a lot of attention this week: ‘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.’
Neither Bridenstine nor Cruise himself offered any more details, but it seems likely that we might be looking at the first commercial film shot in space – and that opens up a lot of questions and possibilities.
The tweet came after a report in Hollywood trade publication Deadline, which suggested that the project would be a full feature film.
It added that the film would not be part of the Mission: Impossible franchise and that no studio was involved at this time.
It also said that Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk would be involved in the project.
Musk did not directly confirm the report, but he did tweet: ‘Should be a lot of fun!’
The information released so far leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Cruise is likely to travel on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft
Musk’s response suggests that Cruise is likely to head for the International Space Station (ISS) on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The company has been putting the capsules through rigorous testing, with a crewed NASA flight to the ISS planned for later this month.
The cost of commercial flights to the station has been placed at $55m (£44m).
NASA has also previously released a breakdown of costs for private visitors to the ISS, including food, medical, air and other vital supplies ($22,500 per crew per day); regenerative life support and toilet ($11,250 per crew per day); and a data downlink ($50 per GB).
It’s not clear who will be paying for Cruise’s trip, especially if no studio is involved, but the trip could be the precursor to a new rush of private space tourism for the super-wealthy.
Seven private individuals had previously paid to go to the ISS via a Russian company, but there have been no space tourists in more than a decade.
Now, a number of private companies are gearing up to take paying customers into space.
As well as SpaceX, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are among those investing in commercial space flight, and Cruise’s journey might just be the catalyst for it all.
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