Russian film crew in space for shooting 'safe'; equipments functioning properly: Reports

Creating new benchmarks for cinema, a Russian actor and a film director on October 5, set off for a space on a mission in a bid to make the world's first film shot in space. In a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko, along with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions, blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS). Their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft was successfully launched at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space launch centre in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, as planned.

The crew was safe, according to Russian space officials, and all of the spacecraft's equipment was working properly, reported AP.

Peresild and Klimenko are foraying to space to shoot for their upcoming film "Challenge," in which Peresild plays the role of a surgeon who goes to the space station to assist a crew member suffering from a heart problem. They will return to Earth alongside another Russian astronaut after 12 days on the space station.

'Challenge' movie to be shot in space

Peresild, 37, said it was difficult for her to adjust to the stringent discipline and strenuous demands of the training during a pre-flight news conference on October 4. Shipenko, 38, who has directed several commercially successful films, similarly described their four-month fast-track training as 'difficult.'

The crew training and launch have been extensively covered by Russia's state-controlled Channel One television, which is also engaged in the film's production.

Dmitry Rogozin, the leader of Russia's state space enterprise Roscosmos, was a driving force behind the project, presenting it as an opportunity to reclaim the country's space glory and dismissing criticism from the Russian press. Some critics said that the film project would distract the Russian crew and that filming on the Russian section of the International Space Station, which is far smaller than the US segment, would be difficult.

The three newcomers will join Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, and Megan McArthur, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency when they arrive at the space station just over three hours after launch.

On Oct. 17, Novitskiy, who will play an injured cosmonaut in the film, will occupy the captain's seat in a Soyuz spacecraft that will transport the team down to Earth.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP