Russian film crew launches into space to shoot movie on International Space Station

Sorry, Tom Cruise, but it looks like your plans to shoot the first narrative movie in space may have just been scuppered.

On Tuesday morning at 5:55 a.m. ET, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying actor Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They’re heading to the International Space Station with the aim to shoot the first movie filmed in space titled The Challenge.

The launch, which was broadcast live on NASA TV, was a success.

Rumours that Cruise was planning to shoot a movie at the ISS were confirmed earlier this year by NASA administrator representative Jim Bridenstine. It was set to be the first movie shot in space.

Then, a few months later, it became apparent that Russia was probably going to beat him to it. The Challenge — which “follows a female surgeon who has to perform an operation on a cosmonaut too ill to return to Earth immediately,” per IMDb — is a collaboration between Russian broadcaster Channel One, studio Yellow, Black and White, and Russian space agency Roscosmos. Director Shipenko previously made Son of a Rich, which is Russia’s highest ever grossing movie, while actor Peresild has appeared in a number of films and TV shows in Russia.

They both received training at the Yuri Gagarin Center for Cosmonaut Training earlier this year, and both are expected to spend 12 days in orbit shooting.

A shot of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasting up through the sky.
Credit: SCREENSHOT: nasa / youtube

A shot from the craft, taken around three minutes after launch.
Credit: screensshot: nasa / youtube

In recent weeks there has been an influx of well publicised space missions. First Virgin Galactic boss Richard Branson paid a visit to orbit, then Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid his own visit along with his brother, and then — most recently — Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the world’s first all-civilian space flight (the footage from that one was pretty incredible).

If you want to keep up-to-date with the mission, you can follow Roscomos on Twitter or keep an eye on the International Space Station or NASA’s feeds for updates.