More than 60 years after the Soviet Union beat the U.S. into orbit with the launch of its Sputnik satellite, a new space race is heating up between the two rivals. And once again, the Russians are claiming bragging rights with plans to produce the first feature film shot in outer space, ahead of\u00a0Tom Cruise\u2019s\u00a0upcoming $200-million space epic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Challenge\u201d is the story of a Russian doctor who\u2019s sent to the International Space Station to save the life of a cosmonaut. If all goes according to plan, the production team will lift off next month on a 12-day mission to pull off the historic first.<\/p>\n
A collaboration between Russian space agency Roscosmos, public broadcaster\u00a0Channel One, and leading studio Yellow, Black and White, \u201cThe Challenge\u201d will be directed by Klim Shipenko, whose blockbuster comedy \u201cSon of a Rich\u201d is Russia\u2019s highest-grossing film of all time. The movie stars Yulia Peresild, a veteran screen and stage actor who was cast after a country-wide talent search last spring.<\/p>\n
The production team received a crash course in space travel earlier this year at the Yuri Gagarin Center for Cosmonaut Training. On Thursday, a commission of medical and safety experts from the center gave the project approval to go ahead.<\/p>\n
Shipenko and Peresild are scheduled to blast into orbit on Oct. 5 in a Soyuz spaceship piloted by Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran cosmonaut, with a backup crew on standby in the event of any last-minute medical problems.<\/p>\n
At a news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Peresild said it was \u201ctoo late\u201d to be afraid of the cosmic task ahead. \u201cIf you\u2019re afraid of wolves, you shouldn\u2019t go into the forest,\u201d she told reporters, adding: \u201cThere is just no time left for fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shipenko fielded questions about the crew\u2019s diet in outer space, insisting they\u2019ll have more variety than in an Earth-bound restaurant, and quipped about learning to use a spoon in zero gravity.<\/p>\n
Last year NASA announced that it was\u00a0partnering with Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and Tom Cruise to shoot a movie\u00a0that would be partly filmed aboard the International Space Station. Directed by\u00a0Doug Liman, the untitled pic was rumored to have a budget of $200 million.<\/p>\n
Roscosmos then announced its own plans to shoot an out-of-this-world feature, hoping to achieve liftoff before its Hollywood counterpart.<\/p>\n
Konstantin Ernst, CEO of the movie\u2019s commissioner Channel One, played down the notion of a new space race heating up the cosmos, noting that \u201ccinema isn\u2019t sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly would have preferred arriving at the International Space Station at the same time with Tom Cruise. We would have enjoyed shooting the film together much better,\u201d Ernst told\u00a0Variety<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Russian super-producer drew a comparison to the first manned international space mission, which was conducted jointly by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1975, adding: \u201cSince we have got a chance to travel there earlier, we will certainly use it.\u201d<\/p>\n Channel One will broadcast the launch on Oct. 5 and offer livestreams in multiple languages across its web platforms. Ernst described it as \u201ca breathtaking reality show and a chance to attract millions of TV viewers.<\/p>\n \n \u201cAt the age of 12, I was a member of the young cosmonaut club hoping to fly into space,\u201d he added. \u201cFor me personally, this is a childhood dream coming true.\u201d<\/p>\n It remains unclear when Cruise\u2019s untitled feature will take off, but the duelling missions come amid a growing wave of amateur space exploration. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos blasted off earlier this year in a rocket built by his company Blue Origin, and on Wednesday, Musk\u2019s SpaceX sent four Americans into orbit in what was the first space flight without a professional astronaut onboard.<\/p>\n