2021 has been the year a whole new class of people have joined the still rare group of humans who have made the trip to space. Billionaires Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Jared Isaacman have all taken the trip, and iconic actor William Shatner is on deck, but first a Russian mission will carry two civilians to the International Space Station to film part of a movie.
A Soyuz rocket is set to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Tuesday with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, film director Klim Shipenko, and actor Yulia Peresild aboard. Shipenko and Peresild will be filming a Russian movie called Challenge during their 12-day stay in orbit.
At a press conference for ISS Expedition 66 on Monday, Peresild said she’s looking forward to months of training for the mission finally paying off.
«We worked really hard and we are really tired,» said the award-winning 37-year-old actor. «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.»
«I am proud of being entrusted with such a mission — to fly without professionals, cosmonauts, astronauts,» added Shkaplerov, who will act as a sort of orbital chaperone for the pair.
While it looks to be the first footage to end up in a feature-length movie, it won’t be the first film shot on the ISS: video game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott filmed a sci-fi short during his stay as a passenger, paying his own way to orbit in 2008. The Russian flick may also help inform how a space-based project involving NASA, SpaceX and Tom Cruise will play out.
Shipenko, who has some of the most popular Russian films ever in his portfolio, and Peresild will stay on the ISS for 12 days before returning via a different Soyuz capsule. Shkaplerov will remain on for a full expedition, likely for about six months.
The liftoff of the Soyuz rocket and MS-19 capsule is set to take place at 1:55 a.m. PT Tuesday. Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to stream the launch live via the feed below.