«Call» to the ground.

Kremlin today

On October 5, 2021, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko flew into space to shoot the film “Challenge”.

Earlier Peresild and Shipenko underwent accelerated training for the flight. “Roscosmos” was broadcasting the launch of the rocket on the official YouTube channel. The launch started at 11:55 a.m, Moscow time. After 15:00 Moscow time, the spacecraft docked to the ISS. The flight time was 3 hours and 27 minutes. “Soyuz MS-19” reached the ISS in an ultra-fast pattern. “Soyuz MS-18” undocked from the station at 04:14. At 06:42 the propulsion system of the spacecraft turned on braking. 

The flight was completed on October 17. The condition of the crew was constantly monitored by the rescue services. After landing on Earth, Julia and Klim felt fine.

BBC

“I’m actually in a bit of a sad mood today, because it seemed like 12 days was a lot, but when it was over, we didn’t want to leave” – Julia Peresild about going into space. In case of success, the project will be the first film in the history of cinema shot in space.

“The picture will tell the story of a woman doctor, who, being in no way connected to space, is sent to the space station to save the life of an astronaut” – Shipenko about the film.

The shooting itself began immediately after the ship took off. The producers of the film were Konstantin Ernst and Dmitry Rogozin, who received permission to shoot personally from Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.  

The flight and filming dealt a strong blow to the competitors of Russian cinema.  In May 2020, Ilon Musk’s SpaceX company along with NASA and Tom Cruise revealed their intentions to shoot the world’s first movie in space.However, the authors of the letter to Vladimir Putin did not deny information from whom they borrowed the idea.