After a brief flight from Earth, a Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian crew docked at International Space Station (Oct. 5), to begin a 12-day film shoot in orbit.
After a four-hour journey that began with a successful launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, the Soyuz connected with the space station at 8 :22 AM EDT. The Soyuz carried Yulia Peresild, a Russian actress, and Klim Shipenko, a director to the station along with Anton Shkaplerov (a veteran cosmonaut who commanded it). Peresild, Shipenko will be spending the next 12 days filming scenes for The Challenge on station.
Peresild, 37 years old, said that she still feels it was a dream and is still asleep during a welcome ceremony.
Shipenko was also in agreement.
The 38-year old director admitted that it was almost impossible to believe that all of this happened.
Shkaplerov's supervision, the Soyuz completed its two-orbit orbit around Earth in order to rendezvous quickly. Although the Soyuz was expected to dock at the Earth-facing Rassvet station module, a communication issue caused Shkaplerov's manual control to dock the spacecraft.
Peresild, Shipenko recorded scenes for their movie while they approached. This prompted jokes from the Russian flight controller team about how the last-minute drama was staged to add suspense and tension to the plot.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, who was pleased with the successful docking, radiated some drama at the end to make your movie more dramatic.
Just as the space station was passing over the Philippines, the capsule docked.
So Soyuz MS-19s are safely at port. A Russian actress and her producer/director are currently filming at the International Space Station for 12 Days of Movie Making, NASA spokesperson Rob Navias stated during live commentary.
Peresild was greeted by Valentina Tereshkova at the station's welcome ceremony. She called Peresild to congratulate her on becoming the first woman to orbit the earth in 1963 with the Vostok-6 mission.
Tereshkova stated that it was very emotional for everyone. She said in Russian about the launch, which was also translated by NASA TV. She said that she was proud of the crew and had one wish for them.
Tereshkova stated that everything should be nominal. We wish all your dreams come true, and we will be waiting to see you back on Earth.
Peresild & Shipenko had a short conversation with ground control before they boarded the station. They said that they enjoyed the sunsets and sunrises during the flight.
The pair will spend 12 days filming The Challenge With Peresild aboard the station. They will play the role of a surgeon who is sent to the station to treat a cosmonaut who suffered a heart attack while on a spacewalk. Oleg Novitsky, a Cosmonaut, will play the role of the ailing space traveler. The Russian segment will host most of the filming, but scenes may be shot in the Earth-viewing cupola attached to the Tranquility Nude segment in the U.S.
When they leave the Russian segment of station, the two flight participants will need to be escorted.
Novitsky and Pyotr dubrov captured the Soyuz capsule's approach from the space station. Dubrov and Shkaplerov are also expected to be in the film.
Novitsky is currently on a three-month-long mission to the station. The filmmakers and Novitsky will be returning to Earth on Oct. 17. The film project was the first ever professional movie shot at space station. Dubrov and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei arrived in April with Novitsky. Their missions had to be extended for six months.
Now, they are expected to be back in April with Shkaplerov. This will make Vande Heis's space journey the longest American astronauts have ever made.
Peresild and Shipenko launched into space at 4 :55 AM EDT (0855 GMT, 1:55 PM local time) on Tuesday Oct. 5. They were on Soyuz-2.1a rockets that had been specially decorated for the film.
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