Russia and United States (Washington Insider Magazine) -Just when everyone thought the Cold War ended in the early 90s, Russia is back to one-up the United States again, after sending a film crew to space to shoot a new movie.
This will be the first ever movie filmed in space, and after news came out that Tom Cruise planned to leave Earth in the near future to film a movie in space, the Russians quickly jumped on the opportunity to send a crew to space in early October.
Film director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild launched with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov – who has previously been on three space missions – on October 5, and landed almost four hours later at the space station despite minor difficulties with the automatic docking system. The crew will spend 12 days filming a movie called “Challenge” before returning to Earth.
“I expect the project to help draw attention to our space program, and to the cosmonaut profession,” said Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space state corporation. “We need a better visualization of space research. Space deserves being shown in a more professional and artful way.”
As for Cruise, NASA reached out to the “Mission Impossible” actor in May 2020 to see if he had any interest in filming a movie on the International Space Station. While Elon Musk has not confirmed if Cruise is interested, SpaceX representatives told the Associated Press that he spoke with four space tourists who orbited from 360 miles high.
“The question is, ‘can Tom Cruise make a new movie that inspires the next generation Elon Musk?’” Jim Bridenstine, the space agency administrator, told the AP. “If he can do that, then we’re all for it. NASA is all in.”
While the United States and Russia have different aspirations for their movies in space, many people will be interested in seeing how the films turn out.
