In a historic first, Russia launches an actor and a film director into space to make a feature film in orbit.
Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actor Yulia Peresild, and film producer Klim Shipenko travel to the International Space Station to film segments for the first feature film set in space.
Russian actress, director blast off to film first movie in space: The Soyuz MS-19 spaceship takes off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, en route to the International Space Station. Russia is launching an actress and film director into space in a historic bid to beat the United States to pic.twitter.com/QYYWSrcaMb
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“Not only do we need to make a film, but we also need to come back to Earth alive,” Shkaplerov said.
Veteran Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actor Yulia Peresild and film producer Klim Shipenko will travel to the International Space Station on Tuesday. Peresild and Shipenko will be filming segments for "Challenge" — the first feature film set in space https://t.co/0gK84VeR8k
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If successful, the Russian crew will beat a Hollywood project that was announced earlier this year by Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
"For me, space is alluring, welcoming, and has no boundaries," Peresild — who was selected out of 3,000 candidates for the role — said in remarks broadcast by Roscosmos.
Russian crew blast off to film first movie in space https://t.co/fTf7WIC2p6 pic.twitter.com/XmHXOpa7th
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The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, was revealed by Russia's space agency Roscosmos to center around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save an astronaut.
Peresild and Klimenko are to film segments of a new movie titled “Challenge,” in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who suffers a heart condition. After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut.
audacy.com
If successful, the mission will add to a long list of firsts for Russia’s space industry.
A few films have been shot onboard the space station, including a 2002 IMAX documentary that Tom Cruise narrated. "Apogee of Fear," a 2012 science fiction film clocking in at about eight minutes, was also filmed in space by entrepreneur and space tourist Richard Garriott, the son of an astronaut.
CNN
But Russia is slated to become the first nation to shoot a feature film in space.
