Soyuz MS-19 was a Russian crewed spaceflight mission launched on October 5, 2021, to the International Space Station (ISS). It is notable for carrying a film director and an actress, Klim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild, to the ISS to film scenes for the Russian feature film The Challenge (Вызов, Vyzov), marking the first time a professional film crew shot a full-length fiction film in space.
Mission Profile
- Launch: Soyuz MS-19 launched on October 5, 2021, at 08:55:02 UTC from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, atop a Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle.
- Docking: The spacecraft docked with the Rassvet module of the ISS approximately 3 hours and 12 minutes after launch, at 12:22:31 UTC. Commander Anton Shkaplerov performed a manual docking after an issue with the automated Kurs system.
- On-Orbit Operations: During their twelve-day stay on the ISS, Peresild and Shipenko filmed scenes for The Challenge, utilizing the station's interior as a set. Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Novitsky also participated in the filming.
- Crew Swap: After completing their filming, Peresild and Shipenko returned to Earth on October 17, 2021, aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, along with Oleg Novitsky, who had launched on MS-18 in April 2021. This unusual arrangement meant that Shkaplerov remained on the ISS as part of Expedition 66, while the two film participants returned on a different Soyuz capsule than the one they launched in.
- Return of Long-Duration Crew: Soyuz MS-19 itself remained docked to the ISS for 171 days and returned to Earth on March 30, 2022, at 11:28 UTC. It carried its original commander, Anton Shkaplerov, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Dubrov and Vande Hei had arrived on Soyuz MS-18 in April 2021 and completed a record-setting 355-day continuous spaceflight, the longest single spaceflight for an American astronaut.
Crew
Launched with Soyuz MS-19
- Anton Shkaplerov (Roscosmos) – Commander, remained on ISS.
- Yulia Peresild (Spaceflight Participant/Actress) – Returned on Soyuz MS-18.
- Klim Shipenko (Spaceflight Participant/Director) – Returned on Soyuz MS-18.
Returned with Soyuz MS-19
- Anton Shkaplerov (Roscosmos) – Commander, launched on MS-19.
- Pyotr Dubrov (Roscosmos) – Flight Engineer, launched on MS-18.
- Mark Vande Hei (NASA) – Flight Engineer, launched on MS-18.
Significance
Soyuz MS-19 represented a significant milestone in space exploration and entertainment:
- First Feature Film in Space: It facilitated the first professional feature film shoot on the ISS by a dedicated film crew, surpassing previous efforts and the concurrent NASA/SpaceX collaboration with Tom Cruise for a similar project.
- Demonstration of Capabilities: The mission showcased Russia's capability to quickly integrate and train non-professional spaceflight participants for short-duration missions to the ISS.
- Pioneering Space Tourism: While not strictly tourism in the commercial sense (as it was a state-sponsored media project), it highlighted the increasing integration of non-astronauts into space missions, following earlier space tourist flights.