Mention Sandusky, Ohio and we immediately think of Callahan Auto Parts (but that’s just because we’re huge Tommy Boy fans). This time next year, however, we’ll probably associate the small city located halfway between Cleveland and Toledo with Joss Whedon’s star-studded The Avengers, which is about to start shooting key scenes at a NASA facility stationed in the area.

Whedon and his cast are set to film in NASA’s Plum Brook Station, publicists for the film confirmed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’. Shooting will begin in August, though the footage Whedon walks away with might not be of this planet. The article points out that Plum Brook has a unique vacuum chamber that can replicate the “cold and airlessness of outer space,” which could mean Earth’s mightiest heroes could be bringing their fight against Loki and other undisclosed villains into the galaxy.

In a way, that makes sense. Marvel Comics writers and illustrators often sent the Avengers on missions outside of Earth’s orbit, and Kenneth Branagh’s Thor helped lay the groundwork for intergalactic shots by establishing Asgard and introducing Tom Hiddleston’s sci-fi trickster. If Whedon’s going to raise the bar with his Avengers picture, moving the action to the weightless realms of outer space sounds like one spectacular way to challenge and please the audience.

This is the latest piece of Avengers news to drop as the film community awaits the start of Comic-Con and the opening of Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger which is rumored to have a full Avengers trailer as its post-credit sequence. So even though Marvel has said they won’t have a major presence in San Diego for Comic-Con, expect some big Avengers bits to keep dropping over the weekend … including (we hope) a better look at that trailer.