Russia film crew to launch off to ISS for shooting first movie in space

In a first, Russia is set to launch an actor and a film director into the space for a feature film shooting on the International Space Station (ISS) in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the Associated Press reported, Monday. Moscow’s space chief hailed the space movie project as “a chance to raise the prestige of Russia’s space program.” Russian actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will be launched into space on Tuesday, October 5 with Anton Shkaplerov, a space veteran cosmonaut who has been on three missions. The Russian crew plans to film segments of the new movie titled “Challenge” based on a surgeon who rescues a member on ISS that suffers a heart condition. Peresild told a news conference at the Russian launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, that the training for the mission was challenging but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was worth giving the hard work. 

“It’s a miracle, an incredible chance,” actor Peresild said about the movie, according to Associated Press. “We worked really hard and we are really tired, even though we stay in good spirits and smile,” the 37-year-old actor further stated. “It was psychologically, physically and morally hard. But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile,” she further adds. 

[n this handout photo released by Roscosmos, actress Yulia Peresild, left, director Klim Shipenko, right, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, members of the prime crew of Soyuz MS-19 spaceship attend a news conference at the Russian launch facility in the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Credit: AP]

‘Strict discipline’ and rigorous training done by film crew

Speaking about the ‘strict discipline’ and rigorous demands that were needed in the training, the Russian actor continued that on Baikonur, the crew became friends with everyone “and all people warmed up. But it was quite difficult in the beginning when you aren’t given much choice: Just go, run, go faster, hold on, carry on. It wasn’t easy for us and it was quite unexpected, but we have gone through it,” she said, according to Associated Press. The film actor continued that the crew had to learn about the design of the spacecraft and handling it, adding that preparation for the flight was the hardest part. “It didn’t come easy for me, to be honest,” Peresild was quoted saying by AP. “For the first two weeks, I was learning it until 4 in the morning every night. There are so many acronyms, and if you don’t learn them all you won’t understand anything else further on,” she continued. 

The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) is less spacious than the US segment, according to the Associated Press. And hence, that would leave very little space for the film crew’s accommodation. In July, although, the facility was expanded after the new lab module ‘Nauka’ arrived and was fully integrated into the ISS orbit. The film crew is expected to join Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency; NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, and Megan McArthur; Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov.