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Russia Is Sending a Director and an Actress to the International Space Station to Make a Film

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by Olivia Harden May 13, 2021

In May of 2020, NASA announced that it would be collaborating with Tom Cruise and Elon Musk to produce the first movie in space. But Russia is trying to beat them to the punch.

Following the announcement, State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced in September 2020 that it would also be producing a movie in space and would be on the hunt for the perfect actor or actress to be sent to space. On May 13, 2021, Roscosmos announced the completion of its search.

Roscosmos recommended actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko as the primary crew and Alyona Mordovina and Alexey Dudin as the backup crew. The film, tentatively called Challenge, will begin no later than June, and takeoff is expected on October 5, 2021, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.

Training for the crew will include centrifuge tests, vibration stand tests, introductory and training flights on a zero-gravity plane, and parachute training. Training will be documented on Channel One, Russia’s most prominent TV channel, a press release said.

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