Top Gun: Maverick: Neil deGrasse Tyson criticizes the physics of the Mach 10 scene

Tom Cruise is set to become the first actor to film a movie in space for real! It was announced that the Mission: Impossible actor would be working with both NASA and SpaceX on a film from Doug Liman where he will be doing a spacewalk at the International Space Station, making him the first civilian to do so. Still, his venture into this revolutionary production may be viewed under a microscope by famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

Tyson recently took to Twitter following his recent viewing of Cruise’s latest summer blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick. He’s always been known as someone who doesn’t hold back when movies don’t measure up to his sense of logic. He recently tweeted about the accuracy of what would really happen during an early sequence in Top Gun: Maverick. In this scene, Maverick had successfully reached Mach 10 in a hypersonic plane and had to eject when the plane started to fall apart.

He would then tweet a follow-up with visual aids showing how air reacts to a jet traveling at 7,000 miles per hour and the repercussions it would have on the human body. 

Tyson would, then, ask in a tweet in regards to the mission where the Navy pilots would have to fly dangerously low to avoid surface-to-air missiles, “But why not first take out the missile banks? Could then fly without daredevil maneuvers.” His question was met with many critical replies, as many have pointed out that the film addressed this factor as it would have alerted enemy planes. 

Cruise has credited the United States Navy with their cooperation on the film. The movie was filmed practically for a lot of the flight sequences, and Top Gun: Maverick set many huge records at the box office for the star. It’s possible Tyson may just be nit-picking for fun. One must also remember that, given his knowledge, his mind simply works differently while watching movies. However, many also believe he’s just playing the “No Fun Police.”

Did you like the science lesson from Tyson? Let us know in the comments!