Russia film crew blast-off to make first movie in space
- Actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov
- Russia’s space chief hailed the feature film project as a chance to raise the prestige of the country’s space programme
In a historic first, Russia launched an actor and a film director into space to make a feature film in orbit – a project the nation’s space chief has hailed as a chance to raise the prestige of Russia’s space programme.
Actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off Tuesday for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. After 12 days on the space outpost, Peresild and Shipenko will return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut.
Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55pm local time from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and successfully reached the designated orbit. Officials reported that the crew was feeling fine and all spacecraft systems were functioning normally.
The crew plans to film segments of a new movie titled Challenge, about a surgeon summoned to rush to the space station to save a crew member who suffers a heart condition.
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Speaking at a news conference at the Russian launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Peresild acknowledged that the training for the mission was gruelling but described it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
