Russia sends people on special mission to space: it promises to exceed the ambitions of the US film industry.

If the initiative is successful, the Russian crew will surpass the Hollywood project announced earlier this year by Mission Cruise star Tom Cruise, along with NASA and Elon Musko’s SpaceX.

37-year-old actress Julia Peresild and 38-year-old film director Klim Shipenka are scheduled to take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8 pm 55 min. Greenwich Mean Time (11 am 55 min. Lithuanian Time).

The crew, led by veteran astronaut Anton Škaplerov, will fly the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), where they will film the Challenge (Vyzov) movie scenes during a 12-day mission.

Russia’s Roskosmos space agency has revealed that the film’s plot, which, like the project’s budget, was largely kept secret, shows a surgeon being sent to TKS to rescue an astronaut.

During the virtual press conference held the day before, K. Šipenka, dressed in a spacesuit, called the film an “experiment”.

“Some will be successful, some will not,” he admitted.

K. Šipenka and J. Peresild will return to Earth on October 17 in a capsule along with astronaut Oleg Novickis, who has spent the last six months at TKS.

Russia’s space industry is preparing for launch at a challenging time: It is struggling to secure state funding while the Kremlin prioritizes military spending.

Compared to the Soviet era, when Moscow launched its first satellite, Sputnik, and sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space, Russia is currently less successful in innovating.

Russians are “no longer interested” in space

The country’s space agency still relies on technology developed in the Soviet Union and faces many obstacles, such as corruption scandals and failed launches.

Russia is also lagging behind in the global space race, facing intense competition from the United States and China, and Beijing is increasingly showing ambitions in the industry.

Additionally, Roskosmos was hit when SpaceX successfully transported astronauts to TKS last year and Russia lost its monopoly on trips to the orbiting station.

However, like my political scientist Konstantin Kalachov, the space film is primarily a matter of public relations and a way of “distracting” Russians from the “problems” facing Roscosmos.

“It should inspire Russians to show how cool we are, but I think Russians are no longer interested in the space industry,” Kalachov told AFP.

In order to improve its image and diversify its income, Russia announced this year that it will reactivate its space tourism program, allowing adventure seekers to visit TKS for a fee.

After a decade-long hiatus, Russia will send two Japanese tourists to the space station in December, including billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. This message capped a pivotal year for amateur space travel.

Last month, SpaceX launched its first flight into space, during which four minimally trained astronauts orbited Earth for three days.

Two billionaires were in space earlier this year. Briton Richard Branson spent a few minutes in a state of weightlessness in July, and a few days later, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos carried out a similar mission.