Actor, director arrive at ISS a week ahead of Shatner space flight
As far as we know, William Shatner won’t be making a cameo, even though he will be out of Earth’s atmosphere at the same time, but a Russian film crew has arrived at the International Space Station to make the first feature-length movie filmed in space. There’s a long list of space movies, including six “Star Trek” films that featured Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk, but none actually shot in space.
There’s also, of course, real-life footage of plenty of space missions, including the 1969 initial moon landing — yes, it was real.
The Russian crew will shoot “Challenge,” in which a doctor rushes to the ISS to perform emergency surgery on a crew member, over 12 days. It’s a skeleton crew, with actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko joined in space by three cosmonauts who will appear in the film. The space movie will finish filming back on Earth after Peresild and Shipenko return.
“It was psychologically, physically, and morally hard,” Peresild said. “But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult, and we will remember it with a smile.”
NASA has been in talks with Tom Cruise about filming a space movie on the ISS with SpaceX dropping him off, but no date has been set.
As for Shatner, he’ll be hitching a ride on Blue Origin on Oct. 12 for a brief sojourn to a place where now many men — and women — have gone before.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” the 90-year-old Shatner said in a press release. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
Shatner will be accompanied by Blue Origin VP of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, along with two other tourists. So, while Elon Musk might have gotten the upper hand in his rivalry with Jeff Bezos, at least Bezos’ company has the honor of bringing Capt. Kirk to the final frontier.
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