Russian actor and filmmaker launch into space to film world’s first-ever movie in orbit

Duo will spend 12 days at the International Space Station before returning to Earth

A Russian film actor and film director have been launched into space to begin filming the world’s first fiction film in orbit.

Actor Yulia Peresild and filmmaker Klim Shipenko took off on a rocket bound for the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft, alongside veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

The Soyuz MS-19 launched from Russia’s space facility Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Reports from space officials have confirmed that the crew are all in good condition and the spacecraft’s systems are functioning as expected.

Peresild and Shipenko are filming a project entitled Challenge.

In the film, Peresild will play a surgeon who is dispatched to a space station in order to save a crew member with a deadly heart condition.

The duo will spend 12 days at the space outpost before returning to Earth.

Speaking at a pre-flight news conference on Monday, Peresild said (per Associated Press): “It was psychologically, physically and morally hard [to undergo the four months of rigorous training].

“But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile.”

Additional reporting by AP