The space race was a notable time in history where multiple countries rushed to outdo each other’s spaceflight capabilities. Well, now we have the race to film in space.
Humans have conquered some of the most difficult filming locations, whether they be underwater, in the air or on Mount Everest. But the final filming frontier is space, and two countries are racing to get there first.
The contenders
Last year, it was reported NASA would assist Hollywood actor Tom Cruise with his ambitions to film a movie in space. Cruise is known for filming all his daredevil stunts himself, and he won’t be dropping the ball when it comes to going to space.
Deadline also reported that Cruise was working with Elon Musk and SpaceX on the venture, so count that as another thing Elon is sending to the moon.
Since then, the film has found a director in Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman and appears to be aiming for a lift-off date of October 2021. Not much is know about the film except that it will take place on the International Space Station.
It wasn’t long before Russia also announced its plans to also film a movie aboard the ISS. Last year, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, put out a call for “a real superhero to go to the stars … at the same time as becoming a big international star”.
This past week the Russian film project, known as “Challenge”, found its star with Yulia Peresild, a 36-year-old actress. The film also recruited its director, Klim Shipenko, and added actress Alena Mordovina and camera director Alexie Dudin as other crew members.
The race to film in space
It appears both the US and Russia are rushing to get their film crews space-ready.
Russia’s crew are set to launch on October 5, in a Soyuz rocket. Prior to this, they will undergo rigorous training.
“Among other things, they will have to take centrifuge tests, vibration stand tests, perform introductory and training flights on a zero-gravity plane, undergo parachute training,” Roscosmos said.
While Tom Cruise’s film is yet to receive an official launch date, it also seems to be aiming for October, which would put the two productions on the ISS around the same time.
No matter which film releases first, they’re both filmed in space, so both are sure to be a spectacular ride.