In a historic first, Russian actor Yulia Peresild and Director Klim Shipenko rocketed into space on a quest to create the world’s first film in space.
Peresild and Shipenko, together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions, blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft successfully launched at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space site in Kazakhstan, and reached safely at the desired orbit.
The space authorities said that the crew was fine and all of the spacecraft’s equipment were working properly.
Peresild and Shipenko will shoot for the upcoming film “Challenge”. Peresild plays a surgeon who travels to the space station to rescue a crew member suffering from a cardiac ailment.
In a pre-flight press conference on Monday, Peresild, 37, said it was difficult for her to adjust to the tight discipline and hard demands of 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 directed many commercially successful films, similarly characterized their four-month fast-track training as difficult.
“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 says Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts will also have roles in the film.
The crew training and launch have been widely covered by Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television, which is participating in the film’s production.
The crew will get back to Earth On Oct. 17.
