James Cameron, the Oscar-award-winning director of "Titanic," is considering making a trip to the Russian space station Mir to experience spaceflight first-hand before making a movie about a flight to Mars, sources in Moscow have told SPACE.com.
Cameron is serious enough about the idea that he recently spent time in Russia taking physical examinations and riding on the same Ilushin-76 jet that cosmonauts train with to experience brief periods of weightlessness.
Specialists at the Moscow-based Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of Space Flight conducted the standard series of medical tests on the film director and cleared Cameron for a possible mission, a high-ranking official in the Russian space industry said.
"Cameron went through all the medical tests and has a green light for a space flight," the official said.
Cameron spent several weeks in Russia during the summer, allegedly to negotiate with RKK Energia officials for a flight to the orbiting outpost, but at least one of Cameron's colleagues said a trip to Mir was not the reason Cameron was in Russia.
"Jim has taken a number of research trips to Russia," Rae Sanchini, who heads Cameron's production company Lightstorm Entertainment, said in a statement Friday. "That could be the source of these rumors."
Sanchini said Cameron's visit to Russia was related to his production of space-related programming, not a planned trip to Mir.Nevertheless, sources maintain that the discussions included talk of flying Cameron to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft, should Mir be deorbited before Cameron's mission could be prepared.
Cameron is said to have conceived the idea of flying to Mir after learning of a Russian actor who trained to make the trip to Mir but could not go because the company that was supposed to pay for the adventure could not come up with the cash.
U.S. businessman Dennis Tito already is planning for a trip to Mir and Hollywood producer Mark Burnett has a deal to create a Survivor type of series in which the winner would fly to Mir.
Both projects are contracted with MirCorp, which is marketing opportunities to fly to the aging space station and likely would be involved if Cameron chooses to pursue his adventure.
"There are a few other people of that ilk who we are in discussions with about going to Mir," said Jeffery Manber, president of Mircorp.
When pressed for names, Manber would only say that they were Hollywood insiders who have shown an interest since Tito made his announcement a few months back.
Though he would not confirm Cameron's plans for a trip to Mir, he said reports that he is considering flying "aren't offbase."
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