It’s important to remember, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and a forthcoming mental health crisis looms, to still have some fun every once in a while. Go for hikes, paint something, complete a puzzle, take up a hobby. Whatever the case may be. Whatever tickles your fancy. Or in my case, at least write about something fun.
That’s where Tom Cruise comes in. For the legendary movie star with a penchant for filming Sci-Fi themed action movies featuring his own stunt work is about to take things to the next level. To a place where no one has gone before. Filming a movie, not just about space, but in space.
As CNET puts it, “Get ready for a film concept that’s out of this world. Actor Tom Cruise and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are working with NASA to shoot an action film in outer space. Representatives for Cruise and SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, but NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the news Tuesday in a tweet.
‘NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the space station!’ he wrote. ‘We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA ambitious plans a reality.’
Those plans may include establishing a lunar base, mining asteroids, colonizing Mars, searching for life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and even eventually developing technologies capable of getting us to the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond.
Considering how little excitement there currently is around activities in space (SpaceX landing a reusable rocket on a floating platform in the sea barely raises an eyebrow) it makes sense to try and host a publicity stunt (in the form of filming a movie) aboard the International Space Station. It may not registered the same psychological impact that landing a man on the Moon did but it will at least get people talking about space again.
Something that we desperately need to start doing again as we face relentless turmoil on Earth in the form of global pandemics and irreversible Climate Change. Perhaps Tom Cruise (like he has dozens of times before in movies like War of the Worlds, Edge of Tomorrow, and the Mission Impossible Series) can save us once more. After all, he’s certainly no stranger to flying (Top Gun) or being an astronaut (Oblivion).
Is filming a movie in space the Greatest Idea Ever?
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