Tom Cruise Has a New Rival in His Efforts to Film a Movie in Space

Tom Cruise is always trying to take it to the next level when it comes to his films. Known for shocking fans that he does all of his own stunts, Cruise is now trying to film a movie in space. However, the Mission: Impossible actor isn't the only one racing to be the first to do such a thing; Russia is well on their way too, claiming they'll be filming one in space by October.

Cruise announced a year ago that he would be teaming up with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX to film the first-ever movie in space, stunning fans around the world. However, now it's a race for who can do it first because Russia's space agency announced they plan on sending an actor and director to the International Space Station in October 2021 to create the first-ever feature film there. "Filming will take place at the International Space Station. The start of the expedition is scheduled for 5 October 2021 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 manned transport spacecraft," Russia's Roscosmos space agency noted in a statement according to slashfilm.

There is very little that's known about the film that Russia plans on shooting in space but it is said that it will be a "space drama" and its working title is Challenge. Actor Yulia Pereslid, 36, and director Klim Shipenko, 37, will undergo training this summer starting June 1. That training will entail centrifuge tests and flights in zero gravity. The film is said to "popularize Russia's space activities, as well as glorify cosmonaut profession."

As for Cruise, there has not been an update since his initial announcement on when exactly he'll plan to go up to space. He's currently continuing his daring stunts as he films Mission: Impossible 7, which poses a challenge on him getting ready to go to space. However, he should be set to go soon because when it was announced in September that he received approval for space travel, the I.S.S. official 2020-2023 manifest that TMZ obtained revealed that he'll be onboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight that is scheduled for a year from that date which was at the end of 2020. He'll go into orbit with director Doug Liman, who he worked with on Edge of Tomorrow. So far, reports have stated that they won't be working on a Mission: Impossible film up there, instead offering a different kind of entertainment movie.