The Challenge
Space career
A Film Shot On Space Station
Missions	Soyuz MS-19/Soyuz MS-18 (Expedition 66)
Mission insignia	File:Soyuz MS-19 Mission Patch.png File:Soyuz-MS-18-Mission-Patch.png

Challenge (Vyzov) is the upcoming film by Klim Shipenko. The first ever film shot in outer space ^[1][2].

Cosmonaut Ivanov loses consciousness while the spacecraft is in flight. Doctors decide that it will be necessary to perform heart surgery right in zero gravity. Cardiac surgeon Zhenya, who does not have time to raise her teenage daughter, is preparing for the flight^[3].

On May 14, 2021, the Interagency Committee approved the composition of the ISS main and alternate crews for the period 2021-2023.^[4] Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (commander) and the crew of the film "Challenge": actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko, will go to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-19. The drama is a joint project of Roscosmos, Channel One and the Yellow, Black and White studio.^[5][6] The alternates chosen after passing the medical committee are: New Drama Theater actress Alyona Mordovina, director Alexei Dudin^[7] and the commander Oleg Artemyev.^[8] Since May 24 the crew members have been training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.^[9] On July 23, the prime crew participated in a four-hour simulation inside a Soyuz replica while wearing the Sokol suit^[10] and on July 28, the back-up crew completed the same exercise. According to the Commander, Oleg Artemyev the performance of the two back-up Spaceflight Participants was outstanding. ^[11] On July 30, the spacecraft had its pre-launch preparation started.^[12] On August 31 the medical committee announced that both the main and reserve crew were healthy for space flight.^[13]

It is planned that the director and actress will return to Earth on October 17, 2021 on Soyuz MS-18, with Commander Oleg Novitskiy. Cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who arrived at the ISS on Soyuz MS-18, will join Shkaplerov on the landing of Soyuz MS-19.^[14][15] Soyuz MS-19 is scheduled to land on March 28, 2022.^[16]

• Yulia Peresild

About 3 thousand applications were submitted for the main role, the number of which was reduced to 20-30, after which Peresild was chosen^[3].

To prepare for filming, Klim Shipenko trained intensively, dropping 15 kilograms of weight. In flight, he himself will perform the functions of an operator, make-up artist and production designer^[3]. Anton Shkaplerov will become the ship's commander, while Shipenko and Peresild will fly in the status of flight engineers. The backup crew is cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev , cameraman Alexei Dudin and actress Alyona Mordovina.^[17]

It is planned that the footage filmed in space will be approximately 35 minutes of the final timing of the film.^[3]

According to Ernst , the motivation of the filmmakers is to confirm Russia's leadership in the space sector, to restore the prestige of the cosmonaut profession in the eyes of the younger generation (Yulia Peresild did not dream of space flights as a child).^[3] The unique experience of express training for non-professional flight may subsequently be useful for the real need to send scientists or doctors into space.^[17]

The launch of the spacecraft is scheduled for October 5 from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The development of the project will be covered within the framework of the Evening Urgant program, whose members will move to the cosmodrome a week before launch^[3]. From September 12 on the First Channel there will also be a reality show called “Call. The first in space "- about the specifics of the selection and training of project participants ^[17]

Klim Shipenko will have to shoot about 35-40 minutes of film on the ISS, as well as taking on the position of director, operator, art director, and makeup artist. Oleg Novitsky and Peter Dubrov will appear in the film,^[18] with Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei assisting in the production.^[19]

The film, which according to Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, is an "experiment to see if Roscosmos can prepare two ordinary people to fly in about 3 or 4 months" has received opposition from the scientific and aerospace communities, as to the fact that they remove trained cosmonauts from their flights, a misuse of public money,^[20] or even that using the station's resources for non-scientific purposes would be illegal.^[21] Sergei Krikalev, director of crewed programs at Roscosmos, reportedly lost his position by speaking out against the project,^[22] but was reinstated after a few days following protests from cosmonauts on and off active duty.^[9]