Russia is filming the first movie in space!

russian-film-crew.Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Actress Yulia Peresild (left), cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (middle), and film director Klim Shipenko (right) have joined the crew on board the ISS

A team of actors and filmmakers from Russia are filming the first ever movie in space!

Actress Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and professional cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, took off from Kazakhstan in a Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.

Three hours later the spacecraft docked onboard the International Space Station where they were welcomed by its current residents.

The film crew will stay on board the space station for 12 days whilst they film the scenes for the movie, before returning back to Earth.

Yulia's 12-year-old daughter Anna waved her mum off on her journey and said: "I'm in shock. I still can't imagine that my mom is out there" .

What's the movie about?

Image source, Roscosmos
Image caption,

The Russian film crew with the ISS crew

The movie - called The Challenge - centres around a surgeon (Yulia) who is sent to the ISS to help save a cosmonaut (someone who is specifically trained by the Russian Space Agency to work in space).

Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, will also make an appearance in the film, alongside two other Russian cosmonauts who are currently working on board the ISS.

Yulia was picked to play the leading role in the film out of 3,000 possible actors, and had to train for four months to prepare for the journey.

However, not everyone thinks filming a movie in space is a good idea. Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko, said: "The ISS is no place for performers, all sorts of clowns or tourists. It's a huge space lab and you shouldn't get in the way of professional work."

Russian space firsts
  • The Sputnik 1 spacecraft was the first artificial satellite to be successfully launched into orbit around the Earth in 1957.

  • A month after this, Laika became the first dog to be sent into space in 1957, on board the Sputnik 2 spacecraft.

  • Three years later and Russia sent Yuri Gagarin - the first man - into space

  • In 1963 Russia broke another record by sending Valentina Tereshkova into space, on a three day mission.

Space race?

Image source, Twitte/@@JimBridenstine

Nasa announced last year that they would be teaming up with actor Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's SpaceX for a special movie project on board the ISS.

However, it seems like Russia has beaten them to it, to claim the title of the first movie to be filmed in space.

What do you think of movies in space? Would you want to see one that was filmed there? Let us know in the comments.