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Russian actor, director blast off to make first movie in space
Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will be in space for 12 days to record scenes of the film, Challenge.
Culture & Entertainment
A Russian actor and a film director have rocketed into space on a landmark mission to make the world’s first movie in orbit.
Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off on Tuesday for the International Space Station (ISS) together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions.
Their Russian Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 08:55 GMT from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and successfully reached the designated orbit.
Peresild and Klimenko are set to film scenes of a new movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon, played by Peresild, rushes to the space station to save a crew member with a heart condition.
After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut.
Hours before takeoff, the trio arrived at the launchpad clad in heavy spacesuits, waving to crowds as they boarded the spacecraft.
“For me, space is alluring, welcoming and has no boundaries,” said Peresild, who was chosen from 3,000 candidates for the role.