NASA’s International Space Station is about to become a film location

Could the International Space Station (ISS) become a venue for major films? It appears that the orbiting laboratory, which has cost hundreds of billions of dollars to build and maintain, is about to play that role.

Recently, NASA and its international partners celebrated the 20th anniversary of the human occupation of the orbiting laboratory known as the International Space Station. To illustrate just how extraordinary a feat this is, a baby born the year Expedition 1 boarded the ISS, then under construction, is now in college.

The benefits the ISS has reaped in science, technology, and commercial space travel are all well known. Indeed, while the space station was a controversial issue in the early 1990s and was canceled in a single vote, the orbiting laboratory is now so popular that the question is not when to end the program but how long it should be used. The consensus seems to be that the ISS should continue until at least 2028, which many engineers believe is the outer limit of its useful life.

NASA Administrator Jim BridenstineJames (Jim) Frederick Bridenstine The case of NASA’s post-election Bridenstine Up for sale: the moon Mark Kelly’s views on Space Force, NASA’s Artemis return to the moon are problematic MORE proposed moving to commercially built and operated space stations, where the space agency will be a reference tenant. A proposal for such a successor to the ISS was developed by Axiom Space, according to Space.com. Axiom would connect commercial modules to the ISS starting in 2024. When the ISS finally retires, Axiom will move to its free-flying space station, where NASA and other customers would rent space. The company also plans to organize tourist flights on the SpaceX Crew Dragon starting in late 2021.

The ISS will soon play a role that President Ronald Reagan did not envision when he first proposed building an orbiting laboratory in the mid-1980s. Soon, if the plans are implemented, the ISS will become a remote site for films. The fact is ironic, considering Reagan began his life as a film actor.

According to Deadline, Tom Cruise is planning a film that will be partially shot aboard the ISS. At the moment, no details are available on what the film will be about. SpaceX’s Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskBlue Origin Takes Small Step Towards SpaceX Virgin Hyperloop Competitor to Build New Certification Center in West Virginia SpaceX Wins Contract to Build U.S. Military Tracking Satellites MORE is involved, so presumably Cruise and a small TV crew will reach the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon. Bridenstine gave her unspoken blessing to the project. The film will be directed by Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on “American Made” and “Edge of Tomorrow”.

Not to be outdone, the Russians are planning their own feature film aboard the ISS. The Russian film will be titled “Challenge”. Little is known about the Russian project except that it will see a woman as the protagonist. The film is supported by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

The first film shot aboard the International Space Station was an eight-minute short film called “Apogee of Fear,” produced by Richard Garriott, which used some of the millions he made by creating computer games to pay for a space tourism trip. the orbiting laboratory. Garriott used the crew members aboard the ISS as actors for the film.

Movies involving space adventures have been a staple of the big screen for decades. Classics include “Destination Moon”, “Forbidden Planet”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the more recent “The Martian”. None of these films were shot on location, so to speak, and they depended on special effects to create the illusion of being in space. This fact could change.

When thinking about the commercialization of space, one usually imagines creating goods and services that can only be possible in an environment of microgravity. However, the oldest space product pre-dates the era of space travel, i.e. films and television programs set on the high frontier. Of course, as soon as it becomes accessible, those kinds of projects will be shot, in part, in the locations where they are set.

Perhaps one way a commercial space station or future moon base could help pay for itself would be to serve as a film studio and set. Films, TV shows, documentaries, and even virtual reality experiences can be produced and then relayed back to Earth at low cost. Space entertainment would thus merge, in part, with spatial reality.

Mark Whittington, who often writes about space and politics, has published a political study on space exploration entitled Why is it so hard to go back to the moon? as well as “The moon, Mars and beyond”. He has a blog on Curmudgeons Corner. It is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, LA Times, and Washington Post, among other locations.