Russian Film Crew Medically Cleared for Travel to ISS
A Russian film crew has received medical clearance to travel to the International Space Station, according to Roscosmos.
As a result of medical and creative selection, the State Commission recommended to nominate Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko as the prime crew and Alyona Mordovina and Alexey Dudin as the backup crew.
The Russian film crew will be shooting a movie tentatively titled "The Challenge". The filming will take place at the International Space Station. The expedition is planned to launch on October 5, 2021 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.
Yulia Peresild is 36 years old. She graduated from the directing department of GITIS and is an actress of the Theater of Nations and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Her credits include ‘The Edge’, ‘Battle for Sevastopol’, ‘Ugryum-River’, ‘Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes’ and others. She has received two Golden Eagle awards.
Klim Shipenko is 37 years old, graduated from California University. He is an actor, stage director, and playwright. His credits include ‘Salyut-7’, ‘Text’, ‘Serf’, and others.
Alyona Mordovina is 33 years old. She graduated from the acting department of GITIS, and is an actress of the New Drama Theater. She has appeared in multiple movies and TV Series including ‘Zhuki’, ‘Diplomat’, ‘Trigger’, ‘The Closer’, ‘Call DiCaprio!’ and others.
Alexey Dudin is 40 years old. A graduate of the Moscow Automechanical Institute, he has worked in television and has been director of photography, cinematography in films and TV series including ‘The Other Side of the Moon’, ‘The Spacewalker’, ‘Yolki-5’, ‘Going Vertical’, ‘T-34’ and others.
A special focus was put on Galina Kairova’s participation in the project, who was invited to continue the selection process to the cosmonaut corps on a professional basis. Kairova is 26 years old and a graduate of the Krasnokutsky Flight School of Civil Aviation and the State University of Management. She is a licensed pilot.
All selected candidates for the Russian film crew will begin special training for space flight participants no later than June 1. Among other things, they will have to take centrifuge tests, vibration stand tests, perform introductory and training flights on a zero-gravity plane, and undergo parachute training. All this will be covered by Channel One.
The feature film ‘Challenge’ is a part of a large-scale scientific and educational project, which also includes a series of documentaries to be shot about the rocket and space industry businesses and specialists involved in the manufacturing of launch vehicles, spacecraft, and ground space infrastructure. The project is intended to highlight the fact that spaceflight is gradually becoming available not only for professionals, but also for an increasingly broad range of interested individuals. In addition to educational tasks, a number of new technical and technological problems will be tackled.
As part of the ‘Challenge’ project, an open competition was announced at the end of 2020 to select the lead for the first feature film in space. At the creative stage of selection, preference was given to professional actresses, although the audition was open to everyone. In March 2021, 20 finalists in the competition were selected to undergo the medical review.
(Image provided with Roscosmos news release. Pictured (L-R) Yulia Peresild, Alyona Mordovina, Galina Kairova)