Russia sends first “film crew” to International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft, carrying director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild, was launched from the Baikanur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, to shoot the first feature film on the station.

In statements to the “Ross Cosmos” Foundation, the spacecraft has separated from its carrier rocket nine minutes after launch and will dock with the “Rasvit” (Sunrise) unit at the International Space Station within d ‘about 3 hours and 17 minutes, at 3:12 p.m. Moscow time. Accompanying the director and actress aboard the spaceship is cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov from “Ros Cosmos”.

The reserve crew includes cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, actress Alina Mordovina and photographer Alexei Dudin. Thus, Peresild and Shipenko could become the first representatives of the film industry to visit space. Prior to that, Russian actor Fyodor Gerusov had attempted to join the cosmonaut team when first bidding for this flight in 2012, but he was not in good health and was not recommended later in the application. for this role.

The film is called “The Challenge” and tells the story of a female doctor who flies in Earth orbit to save an astronaut. The crew will have to shoot approximately 35 to 40 minutes of the film aboard the International Space Station, and Peresild and Shipenko will spend 12 days there, then return aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft with Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who is on the ‘International Space Station Since April.

Source: TASS