Russia releases trailer for a film shot on the ISS, beats Tom Cruise to his dream project

Russia has published a trailer for ‘The Challenge,’ a film filmed on the International Space Station 250 miles (400 kilometres) above Earth (ISS). Its April 20 release date will make it the first feature-length picture in which the performers and director were transported out to space for shooting. This will be disappointing for Tom Cruise, who is set to star in a project produced by Doug Liman that wanted to earn this title.

In May 2020, the Mission: Impossible actor was discovered to be collaborating with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and NASA for the same project. Just six months after Cruise revealed the project, Russian space agency Roscosmos stated it was casting a ‘superwoman’ to head the ‘first feature film to be filmed on the International Space Station’. Also read: Tom Cruise confirmed to headline movie shot on International Space Station, announces NASA administrator The film features a Russian actress called Yulia Peresild, who portrays cardiac physician Zhenya, who is launched off to the International Space Station to save the life of an astronaut. In addition to completing a difficult operation in zero gravity, the character must battle to be regarded seriously by the rest of the male crew. In order to ‘popularise Russia’s space operations and honour the cosmonaut occupation,’ all phases of the film’s production were broadcast on state-controlled TV station Channel One.

#ICYMI: A veteran cosmonaut and two Russian filmmakers returned to Earth from the space station overnight landing in Kazakhstan. More... https://t.co/CrQl3O1BUl pic.twitter.com/zaIRfJPEVM

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 17, 2021

It was shot aboard the International Space Station in October 2021, just months before Russia invaded Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s space commander Dmitry Rogozin, director of Roscosmos, named himself a producer of ‘The Challenge’. While ‘Return from Orbit,’ a Soviet science fiction picture from 1984, did feature scenes filmed aboard the Salyut 7 space station, this will be the first time the cast has been flown into space for filming. Also read: Russian actress, director return to Earth after filming first movie for 12 days aboard space station The production of ‘The Challenge’ cost approximately 1.115 billion roubles (£12.4 million), whereas the Cruise film is expected to cost $200 million (£170 million). NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote in May 2020, “NASA is thrilled to collaborate with Tom Cruise on a film onboard the Space Station!” “We need popular media to inspire a new breed of engineers and scientists to make NASA’s ambitious goals a reality,” he added. Cruise and Liman collaborated on the 2017 feature American Made and the 2014 film Edge Of Tomorrow. They were scheduled to shoot for eight days on the International Space Station in October 2021, after being carried out on a SpaceX Crew Dragon Mission 1 spacecraft. However, the performer and director were unable to embark, and while their journey was only postponed until early 2022, they have yet to reach orbit. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.