Tom Cruise aims higher with movie shot on space station

Action star Tom Cruise is working on a movie shot in outer space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Tuesday.

"NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the SpaceStation!," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.

"We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA's ambitious plans a reality," Bridenstine added.

He gave no details but the tweet followed a report in Hollywood trade outlet Deadline that Cruise was working with Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk to make what would be the first feature film to be shot in space.

The proposed action adventure is in its early stages, Deadline reported on Monday.

Representatives for Cruise did not immediately return a request for comment.

TopGun and Mission: Impossiblestar Tom Cruise, 57, is renowned for his daredevil films and for doing his own stunts.

He flew fighter jets for the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick,hung off the side of a plane as it took off in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nationin 2015 and climbed the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai the tallest building in the world for Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol.

Filming on Mission: Impossible 7was put on hold in February as the coronavirus epidemic took off in Italy. The disease later led to a worldwide shutdown of Hollywood movie and TV production and the closure of movie theatres.