Russian film crew jet off to space to shoot a movie - In Pics

Russian actress Julia Peresild, Director Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov set off off for the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to shoot for a movie in space. The film titled "The Challenge" is about a medical emergency in orbit. See pics 

(Image courtesy: Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)

Peresild and Shipenko plan to spend 12 days aboard the space station, filming in the Russian segment of the lab before returning to Earth in the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft with Oleg Novitskiy (cosmonaut), who will be wrapping up a 190-day mission.

(Image courtesy: Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)

With Shkaplerov at the controls, flanked on the left by Shipenko and on the right by Peresild, the Soyuz MS-19/65S spacecraft atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket launched from Site 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just before 5 am EDT, as per news reports. 

(Image courtesy: Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)

In "The Challenge", Peresild will play a Russian doctor sent to the station to treat a critically ill cosmonaut. Shkaplerov, Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov (cosmonaut) will assist and presumably play small roles in the drama. Shipenko will be responsible for lighting, makeup and camera operation.The movie is a joint project between Roscosmos, the state-owned Channel One Russia and the Yellow, Black and White film studio

(Image courtesy: Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)

This is the first time a mission has been embarked to ISS to shoot a movie in space.

(Image courtesy: Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS)