A RUSSIAN actress is set to take off for the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow to shoot the first movie in outer space.
Alongside two cosmonauts and a director, Yulia Peresild, 37, will launch on a Soyuz MS-19 craft to be delivered to the station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of around 220 miles (354km).
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Their launch will come just weeks after that of the first all-civilian crew riding aboard a rocket and capsule developed by SpaceX.
That adds an element of decades-long Russia-United States competition to the flight. Tom Cruise plans to film his own movie in space later this month.
“This movie is built around a story of an ordinary person… a doctor who had nothing to do with space exploration and never thought about it is offered to travel to the ISS… and save a cosmonaut’s life,” director and actor Klim Shipenko told a news conference last month.
The professional cosmonauts in the crew will also be seen in the movie.
“I won’t be starring in it but still I will need to figure out how a movie is produced in such an unusual place as outer space,” said commander Anton Shkaplerov.
Lead actress Yulia Peresild said she has learned how to be her own make-up artist and costume designer.
“It will not be on the same level as on Earth, but we will do our best. We are ready for it,” she said.
“It is a bit too late to be afraid because we’ve come so far, there is Baikonur ahead and a lot of things (to do) and to be honest, there is just no time left for fear.”
Director Shipenko, who is 1.9 metres (6 feet 2 inches) tall, said his height makes training inside the spacecraft – and the upcoming trip – not very comfortable.
But accommodations will be made in the future, he said, adding: “It is okay. I will fly now as it is, but when we do the sequel about travel to Mars, then they promise there will be a better seat.”
Russian space agency Roscosmos announced the project in May.
The “space drama”, whose working title is “Challenge,” is being co-produced by the flamboyant head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, and state-run network Channel One.
What is the ISS?
Here’s what you need to know about the International Space Station…
- The International Space Station, often abbreviated to ISS, is a large space craft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the station to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
The flight’s two civilian crew members have spent weeks undergoing training, including tests on a centrifuge and flights in zero gravity.
The launch will take place at 09:55am UK time (04:55am ET) from Baikonur cosmodrome.
The mission will last 12 days and the return to Earth has been scheduled for October 17.
Channel One Russia will broadcast the space launch live on-air and online at www.1tv.ru/kosmos.
Cruise, 58, is to film his own project on the station sometime in October after travelling there on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The Mission Impossible star, who’s known for performing many of his own stunts, will be joined by 55-year-old director Doug Liman.
Further details are being kept tightly under wraps, although it’s understood that Liman has written a draft screenplay for the project.
Nasa announced the money-making scheme last year, and it appears that Roscosmos are trying to beat them to it.
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Find out more about science
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In other news, three entirely new lifeforms were recently discovered at different locations onboard the International Space Station.
Nasa has announced that it is accepting applications for wannabe space explorers who wish to fire their names to the Red Planet.
And, the Perseverance Mars rover has revealed stunning video and audio recordings from the surface of the Red Planet.
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