KENNEDY SPACE CENTER , Florida ( CNN ) -- So , what 's harder , steering a space shuttle or out-machoing Tom Cruise on the set of `` Top Gun '' ? Scott Altman is commander of the current space shuttle mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope . Scott Altman laughs when he answers the question . `` Flying a space shuttle is a little more challenging than what we did in the movie , although the flying was a lot of fun , '' said Altman , who knows more than a little about both . The retired Navy F-14 fighter pilot is the commander of the current space shuttle Atlantis mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope . He also doubled for the actors , including Cruise , during the Southern California shoot of the 1986 hit movie . Then a young pilot , Altman had just gotten back from a 7½-month tour onboard an aircraft carrier when he got the `` Top Gun '' call from his commanding officer . `` The skipper of our squadron picked four guys he thought he could trust to have this kind of carte blanche to break the rules a little bit , '' Altman said . That included a scene in which a brazen Navy pilot buzzes the base 's control tower . That would never happen in real life , Altman said . The movie features Cruise as a young naval aviator , Pete `` Maverick '' Mitchell , selected to attend fighter-pilot training school at the then-Miramar Naval Station north of San Diego . To prepare for the film , Cruise flew in the backseat of an F-14 several times , including once with Altman . `` The actors were all pretty easy to get along with . Tom Cruise , for example , was very motivated , '' recalled Altman , who is making his fourth trip into space this week . `` He enjoyed flying . He listened to what we told him and became a pilot himself after that . '' Altman is not one to brag about his flying in `` Top Gun . '' The U.S. space agency , NASA , does n't mention his film heroics , either . But Altman is in one of the movie 's most memorable scenes . While flying upside down , inverted , Altman gives an obscene gesture to the pilot of an enemy plane . `` They said go ahead and gesture at the other airplane , '' said Altman , 49 , with a smile . `` So when you 're looking at the scene where he 's communicating with the Russian , or the bad-guy pilots in the movie , that would be my finger . '' But the flying scenes with the actors did n't all work out as director Tony Scott had hoped . `` The director had to pay $ 7,600 an hour to rent an airplane , '' Altman recalled . `` But after a week of spending that much money on the airplanes , he decided he could n't use the footage . The actors all looked a little green , he said . '' Altman and the other pilots earned $ 23 a day for their trouble . But his biggest disappointment was not getting to see the film as soon as it was released . He and the other pilots were invited to a preview screening , but a commanding officer would not let them go . And by the time the movie hit theaters , Altman was busy . He was overseas , on another seven-month tour of duty .
Ex-fighter pilot Scott Altman is commander of space shuttle Atlantis mission . As a young pilot , Altman was a stunt double in the 1986 hit movie `` Top Gun '' Altman worked with several actors on the film , including star Tom Cruise . Altman on Cruise : `` He enjoyed flying . I think he liked it more than anything else about being an actor.