Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a carrier that will bring actress Yulia Peresild, movie director Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to the International Space Station (ISS) was launched on Tuesday from the Baikonur spaceport, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the site.
The crew will shoot the first professional feature film in space, titled Challenge.
Approximately 9.5 minutes after takeoff, Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft will separate from the third stage of the carrier and head to the ISS. It will take the spacecraft about three hours and 17 minutes to dock to the ISS.
For the first time in history, Soyuz will be piloted to the ISS by one mission commander without any assistance of a professional flight engineer.
An international crew of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov; NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Japan’s Aki Hoshide; and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency will welcome the team aboard.
Russian cosmonauts will assist the filmmakers.
Peresild and Shipenko plan to spend 12 days at the ISS.
