ONWARD

Russian Film Crew Beats Tom Cruise to Shoot First Movie at International Space Station

The launch is part of a 12-day mission to shoot a film titled “The Challenge” aboard the International Space Station.

A Russian actress blasted off to space Tuesday as part of an ambitious bid to film the first movie ever at the International Space Station. Yulia Peresild was joined on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft by director Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. The trio took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:55 a.m. ET, according to NASA. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, announced the successful launch on Twitter, writing: “Launch as planned.” The launch, part of a 12-day mission to shoot a film titled The Challenge, appears to have dashed hopes for Tom Cruise to pull off the first space movie filmed aboard the International Space Station. That $200 million project was announced last year, with Elon Musk said to be taking part.