A Russian crew is shooting the first feature film on the ISS
Kris Holt·Contributing Writer
6 October 2021·1-min read
The International Space Station (ISS) crew members Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, film director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild pose after donning space suits shortly before the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan October 5, 2021. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT.
Filming is underway on the first feature-length movie to be shot in space after Russian actor Yulia Sherepild and director Klim Shipenko docked at the International Space Station. Their movie, The Challenge, will feature around 35-40 minutes of scenes filmed on the space station, according to The New York Times. The film is about a surgeon (Sherepild) who goes on an emergency ISS mission to save the life of a cosmonaut (Shipenko).
The two cosmonauts who were already on the ISS captured a shot as Peresild (or her character) emerged from the capsule and entered the station. Sherepild and Shipenko will film scenes over the next couple of weeks before returning to Earth on October 17th.
Other projects have been filmed on the ISS, including documentaries, virtual reality projects and a short called Apogee of Fear. Tom Cruise hoped to make the first feature film in space with the help of NASA and SpaceX, but the Russian team beat him to the punch. Russia's Roscosmos agency announced a plan to send an actor to the ISS soon after word emerged about Cruise's movie in May 2020.
Time will tell whether The Challenge is any good. Regardless, the creatives behind the project have carved out their own little slice of history.
