Bad luck for Tom Cruise: Russian film crew leaves for the ISS on Tuesday for the first film in space

American actor Tom Cruise (59) already announced that he wanted to shoot a film in space, but a Russian film crew is now ahead of him. Actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko leave for the ISS on Tuesday for the new film ‘The Challenge’ (‘Vizov’).

In ‘The Challenge’, a spaceman becomes unwell, forcing a surgeon (a role for Yulia Peresild) into space to treat him. And you can take that literally. Until now, films that take place in space are simply filmed on Earth, ‘The Challenge’ goes a step further.

For the recordings, actress Yulia Peresild actually travels to space – more specifically, the International Space Station (ISS). Director Klim Shipenko accompanies her.

The two have no experience with space travel. She only started training after her audition last spring. For example, she practiced weightlessness in an airplane. “The first two seconds is scary,” she said during a press conference. “After that, it’s just beautiful.”

Peresild and Shipenko are accompanied on their journey by the experienced cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. The two filmmakers will spend just over ten days on the ISS, assisted by the Russian cosmonauts, who also have a small part in the film. They will return to Earth on October 16 – without Shkaplerov, who will remain in the ISS. “I’m not afraid,” Peresild said. “Although fear is normal.”

With their action, the two Russians beat actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman. They had hoped to be the first to shoot a film in space. They would normally take off on Elon Musk’s SpaceX space capsule sometime this month and also travel to the ISS for recordings. However, there was no concrete departure date yet.