Russian film crew blasts off to make first movie in space

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian actor and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the world's first movie in orbit, a project the Kremlin said will help burnish the nation's space glory.

Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions.

Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55 p.m. from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and arrived at the station after about 3½ hours.

Shkaplerov took manual controls to smoothly dock the spacecraft at the space outpost after a glitch in an automatic docking system.

The trio reported they were feeling fine and spacecraft systems were functioning normally.

Peresild and Klimenko are to film segments of a new movie titled “Challenge,” in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who suffers a heart condition.

After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the mission will help showcase Russia's space prowess.

“We have been pioneers in space and maintained a confident position,” Peskov said.

“Such missions that help advertise our achievements and space exploration, in general, are great for the country.”

Speaking at a pre-flight news conference Monday, 37-year-old Peresild acknowledged that it was challenging for her to adapt to the strict discipline and rigorous demands during the training.

“It was psychologically, physically and morally hard,” she said.

“But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile.”

Shipenko, 38, who has made several commercially successful movies, also described their fast-track, four-month preparation for the flight as tough.

“Of course, we couldn't make many things at the first try, and sometimes even at a third attempt, but it's normal,” he said.

Shipenko, who will complete the shooting on Earth after filming the movie's space episodes, said Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts now on board the station — Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov — will all play parts in the new movie.

Russia's state-controlled Channel One television, which is involved in making the movie, has extensively covered the crew training and the launch.

“I'm in shock. I still can't imagine that my mom is out there,” Peresild's daughter, Anna, said in televised remarks minutes after the launch.

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