Tom Cruise Is Making History With His Spacewalk

Tom Cruise is teaming up with NASA and SpaceX to attempt the first civilian spacewalk.

By Douglas Helm | Published

Tom Cruise is known for doing some absolutely crazy stunts, but going on a spacewalk would really take it to the next level. Of course, that’s exactly what he’s planning on doing as Cruise may become the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station. Naturally, it’s all in service of Cruise’s dedication to his movie performances, as the spacewalk will be done for his action film with director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow).

This movie will be the third collaboration between Tom Cruise and Liman after they did Edge of Tomorrow and American Made together. The plot for the film is being kept under mostly wraps, for now, but apparently, Cruise will be playing someone who finds themselves in a position to save the Earth. The project, and the trip to space, are being backed by Universal Pictures with a reported budget of $200 million.

While it was already announced that the new Tom Cruise movie would be shooting scenes on the International Space Station, the spacewalk would take things to another level. Then again, Cruise has already hung off the side of an airplane, climbed the Burj Khalifa, and hung from a helicopter. What’s a little walk in space for an actor who has clearly demonstrated that he’s not afraid to do his own stunts?

tom cruise

For the spacewalk, Universal Pictures and Tom Cruise are teaming up with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Not only will Cruise be making history as the first civilian to spacewalk, but it will also be the first narrative feature filmed in space. Cruise just continues to up the ante with what he’s willing to do for his movies.

Tom Cruise has already filmed another hyper-dangerous stunt last year for the upcoming Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One. His latest stunt involved Cruise jumping off a cliff on a motorcycle and then parachuting down. Apparently, the actor trained for the stunt by doing over 500 skydiving sessions and 13,000 motorcycle jumps.

We’ll get to see Tom Cruise’s next mission as Ethan Hunt when Mission Impossible: Dead ReckoningPart One hits theaters on July 14, 2023. We won’t have to wait long after to see Cruise do some more crazy stunts as Hunt since Mission Impossible: Dead ReckoningPart Two will be released less than a year later on June 28, 2024. Along with Cruise, the films will co-star Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Cary Elwes, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, and more.

Tom Cruise continues to win both on and off the screen. While many people would pay for the privilege of heading up to space, Cruise is getting paid millions to do it. Meanwhile, Cruise still holds the belt for the highest-grossing movie of 2022 so far, with his Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

Top Gun: Maverick topped $1.47 billion at the box office, breaking several personal records for Cruise. There’s no reason to think that the upcoming Mission Impossible movies and the untitled space movie won’t make buckets of money too. It’ll be hard for Crusie to top this space-walking stunt, but if anyone can top something like that, it’s probably Tom Cruise.