Flight to the ISS: rocket launch for filming in space

Status: 05.10.2021 11:14 a.m.

Countdown instead of clapperboard, the first: a Russian film team set off for the International Space Station today with a Soyuz rocket. A feature film is to be shot there for the first time. The ISS crew also plays along.

By Martha Wilczynski, ARD Studio Moscow

On this flight, the Russian space agency Roskosmos is primarily concerned with one thing: “To prove once again that we are the best. That we also take non-specialists and prepare them in a short time – give them the opportunity to fly into space, them do their work there and have their mission accomplished. ” This is what Anton Schkaplerow, commander of the Soyuz MS-19, explains.

This rocket is scheduled to leave the Kazakh spaceport Baikonur for the International Space Station at around 10:55 am Central European time – with Klim Schipenko and Julia Peresild on board, a film director and an actress. Their mission: to shoot the first movie in space.

The film team that wants to shoot movie scenes on the ISS at a press conference (picture from Roskosmos).

Image: EPA

Shooting challenge

They spent around four months preparing for this in the cosmonauts’ training camp. Even then she understood that it would be an extremely difficult shoot, says the 37-year-old actress, who prevailed against thousands of applicants for the role. But she is not afraid of the flight into space: “The feeling of weightlessness is unbelievable. You are only afraid for the first two seconds. But then you understand the limitless possibilities this gives you.”

The working title of the film “Wyzow” – in German: “Challenge” – is therefore just as applicable to the shooting. And the content also reflects the experiences that the film team will have on board the ISS, explains director Klim Schipenko:

The basis of this film is the story of a woman who has nothing to do with space travel – and who is offered to fly to the ISS. She is a doctor and is supposed to save the life of a cosmonaut there. So do what it actually does on earth – only under previously unknown conditions.

“Creative professional exchange”

The crew of the ISS will also be in uncharted territory in the coming days, says Schipenko: “The cosmonauts will help with the filming and play roles. The script is written in such a way that they become actors and we – cosmonauts. It is a creative professional exchange of experiences. “

The film team should spend at least twelve days on the ISS. Filming should begin immediately after docking. Commander Schkaplerow, who flies the team to the ISS, will also play a role – for him the really interesting part of this mission.

The end result is not a big Hollywood blockbuster, but a “unique scientific and educational project”, as the Russian space agency calls it. And one that is supposed to convey that anyone can fly into space. Because Russia is also involved in the future space tourism project.

But before that happens, one is proud to be able to show the first film after the first space satellite and the first manned space flight, the shooting of which does not start with a flap, but with a countdown.

Filming location ISS: rocket launch for an extraordinary film project

Martha Wilczynski, ARD Moscow, October 5, 2021 9:48 a.m.

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