Russian crew arrive at International Space Station to shoot first film in orbit

The Russian crew is set to beat a Hollywood project that was announced last year by Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise together with Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

A Russian actress and director on Tuesday arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in a bid to best the US and film the first movie in orbit.

Actress Yulia Peresild, left, film director Klim Shipenko, right, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov sit in the first row among other participants of the mission in the International Space Station. (AP)

The Russian crew is set to beat a Hollywood project that was announced last year by Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise together with Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and film director Klim Shipenko, 38, took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan as scheduled.

But they belatedly docked at the ISS at 5.52 pm IST after veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov switched to manual control. “Welcome to the ISS!” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Twitter.

The crew travelled in a Soyuz MS-19 spaceship for a 12-day mission at the ISS to film scenes for The Challenge. The movie’s plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, was revealed by Roscosmos to centre around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut.

Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS are said to have cameo roles in the film.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the mission will help showcase Russia’s space prowess. “Such missions that help advertise our achievements and space exploration in general are great for the country.”