Tom Cruise books flight into space, will join SpaceX Crew Dragon

Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman could be heading to space in October 2021, images posted by the Space Shuttle Almanac reveal. The actor and filmmaker were recently announced to have begun work on a $200 million film to be partially shot in space -- making it the first of its kind.

According to Deadline, images posted by the Space Shuttle Almanac on Twitter reveal future space missions. But the October 2021 entry contains a couple of familiar names. Three names are listed to travel into space as a part of the SpaceX Crew Dragon -- SpaceX Pilot Lopez Alegria, Tourist 1 Tom Cruise and Tourist 2 Doug Liman. There is a vacant spot for a third 'tourist' as well.

It is unclear if this is a preliminary flight, or if the actor-director plan do film material as well. Cruise and Liman have worked together on the films Edge of Tomorrow and American Made. Deadline previously reported that Universal signed off on the big-budget project over a Zoom call with Cruise, Liman, his frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, and producer PJ van Sandwijk. Elon Musk will also be involved through his SpaceX firm. Cruise's Mission Impossible 5, 6, 7 and 8 director McQuarrie, Deadline says, " will have a ground control role as story advisor and producer."

Cruise recently resumed filming the seventh Mission Impossible film, which had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He will next be seen in Top Gun: Maverick, which after being pushed to December, was further pushed to 2021.