It’s (pretty much) official–Tom Cruise is headed to outer space. The actor, along director Doug Liman, are set to travel to the great beyond in October 2021 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Details from the Space Shuttle Almanac suggest that pilot Michael Lopez Alegria will take them to space, while the manifest lists an empty spot for another guest.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is coordinating the mission, and of course supplying the rocket, representing Axiom Space. Founded in 2016, Axiom is trying to become the world’s first company to create a commercial space station by attaching its own modules to the International Space Station. You can read more about this at GameSpot sister site CNET.
As Deadline points out, we don’t know yet if the October 2021 flight with Cruise and Liman is a preliminary trip or if it’s the actual flight where they will record scenes for their space movie.
Jurassic World studio Universal is paying for the $200 million movie, which will be produced in conjunction with SpaceX and NASA.
As of late July, there was no script for the Tom Cruise space movie, nor were there any other details about casting or a release date. What we do know is that Christopher McQuarrie, who directed Cruise in the Mission: Impossible films, is one of the producers.
The space movie’s director, Doug Liman, previously worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow and American Made.
Cruise is known for doing his own stunts–he recently rode a motorcycle off a cliff for Mission: Impossible 7–but going to actual space to film a movie might be his biggest stunt yet.
In other news about space and movies, Fast & Furious 9 will feature a scene where Ludacris leave’s Earth’s atmosphere, which is great news.
