New Delhi: A Russian crew is all set to be launched to the International Space Station on October 5, to shoot the first full-length, fictional movie in space.
The crew will be launched aboard the Soyuz MS-19 manned spacecraft to the ISS, from the Baikonur spaceport, TASS News Agency reported.
A representative of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, which is a part of Russia's State Space Agency Roscosmos, told TASS that the manned spacecraft will land on Earth with the Russian film crew on October 17, in accordance with the ISS Flight Program.
Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actress Yulia Pereslid, and film director Klim Shipenko constitute the basic crew. A backup crew is also in place, comprising cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, actress Alyona Mordovina, and cameraman Alexei Dudin.
‘The Challenge’ Story & Cast
In 2020, NASA had announced that Tom Cruise plans to film on the ISS.
“We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality,” it tweeted on May 6, 2020.
But Russian space agency Roscosmos, which also harboured moviemaking ambition, moved faster and set its own plan in motion soon.
Last week, Russia announced that a commission of medical and safety experts approved a plan for an actress and a director to blast off to ISS in October to film the movie.
The working title of the movie is ‘Vyzov’, meaning ‘The Challenge’, and it is a joint project by Roscosmos, Channel One and the Yellow, Black and White film studio.
According to the TASS report, film director Shipenko said the movie will portray a woman doctor who never had to do anything with space and never thought of space activities, but there came a point in her life when she had to go to space to save a cosmonaut's life.
Shipenko added that the doctor had to save the cosmonaut's life by doing exactly what she would have done on Earth, but the environment is not fit for this in space. The film dwells on this fictional situation and what happens after that.
Yulia Pereslid will play the doctor's role.
The training that the doctor receives before going to space will be shown in the first part of the film, while the second part will show her mission to save the cosmonaut.
Shipenko said the idea behind this project was that everyone, particularly people who have never been to space, should be able to relate to the movie.
The Challenge For The Crew
The lead actress said she will also work as the makeup artist and wardrobe director, while Shipenko will be the film's director, cameraman and lighting technician.
Talking about her experience during preparations for filming in space, Pereslid said she had psychological difficulties adaptating to a different routine, which was a military and a tough one.
Director Shipenko said that exercises inside a spacecraft were most difficult for him and that it was a bit tight for people of his height inside the spacecraft, as they had to sit for up to four hours and sometimes up to seven to eight hours every day.
What is the filming schedule?
Cosmonaut Shkaplerov said the film crew is expected to spend 12 days aboard the ISS, out of which 10 days will be devoted to filming the movie. He said the crew was fine about filming aboard the ISS.
Shkaplerov added that the crew should be fine because the space station is like a big house with 15 modules, and at least seven people always stay there.
He said ISS is just like a filming location because those staying aboard it make videos about life in orbit and in space. However, these were mostly documentaries, and for the first time, a feature film will be made in the space station, he added.
The undocking of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the ISS is scheduled at 04:11:30 Moscow time (6:41 am IST) and landing is scheduled at 7:36:44 Moscow time (10:06 am IST) on October 17, the TASS report said.