Tom Cruise Could Become the 'First Civilian To Do a Spacewalk' Outside the International Space Station for His $200M Movie

Tom Cruise is a well-known Hollywood actor for his incredible stunts in his movies. Now, he is set to make history by making a film on the International Space Station (ISS). He and his film will take a rocket to the ISS to shoot parts of the movie in the space station.

Science Times reported last year that Russian actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and Klim Shipenko, 38, filmed a movie on the ISS and stayed there for 12 days, beating Cruise in making the first film shot in space. They successfully returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-18.

First Civilian to Do a Spacewalk

Universal Pictures boss Donna Langley confirmed in a BBC interview that Cruise would be taking the world to space. "We have a great project in development with Tom, that does contemplate him doing just that. Taking a rocket up to the space station and shooting and hopefully being the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station."

According to Variety, Universal Pictures is backing the Cruise space project that is reported to have a budget of $200 million. She further revealed that while the movie will send Cruise to space, most scenes are shot on Earth, and then Cruise's character would need to go up to space to save the day.

She described the character as a "down-on-his-luck guy who founds himself as the only person who could save Earth." Doug Liman, who will be directing the movie, has previously worked with Cruise in other films, like "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) and "American Made" (2017).

Further details of the movie are kept secret, although it has been announced that the film crew is working with NASA and SpaceX to complete this project. This will be the first Hollywood film ever to film in space.

Liman told Thrillist last year about being part of the project that "When a producer proposes something crazy to you, like, let's try to shoot a movie in outer space, and NASA and SpaceX sign on, and Tom Cruise signs on... you're just a little bit more receptive."

First Private Astronaut Crew on ISS

Aside from movie stars, the ISS also opened its doors to the first private astronaut crew earlier this year, Gizmodo reports. The four spent 15 days in the orbiting laboratory, living and working in a microgravity environment as part of the Ax-1 mission of Axiom Spac.

Like the other astronauts on board, the crew logged in some hours during their stay in the ISS. They admitted in a press conference that they tried to fit too much into their schedules, putting a strain on them and the astronaut crew already abroad at the station.

NASA is already planning for the second private crew to board the ISS in the second quarter of 2023 and has sent out a call for proposals for two more private astronaut missions that could fly as early as late next year. But they stipulated that any missions involving a spacewalk would not be accepted.

On the other hand, Gizmodo also reported the all-private Polaris Dawn crew is scheduled for a spacewalk this December as part of their mission itinerary. That means it is not yet sure that Cruise will get the title of being the first civilian to do a spacewalk, as the crew has been training for their trip since May.

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