Russians Beat Tom Cruise as First to Film Movie in Space

The International Space Station was transformed into a film set Tuesday, when cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actor Yulia Peresild and film producer Klim Shipenko traveled there to film segments for the movie Challenge.

In 2020, Tom Cruise and director Doug Limon announced they’d be filming in space with NASA‘s cooperation and in collaboration with Elon Musk‘s SpaceX. Cruise’s American Made will have to settle for No. 2.

Challenge became the first feature film shot in space, and will follow the story of a a surgeon who has to operate on a sick cosmonaut too ill to return to earth. There were a few minor mishaps, with concern over the amount of time Russian mission control had to communicate with the crew.

“Anton, we have very little time left,” Russian mission control said. “After that, just as you trained for. You'll be fine.”

“I can see everything really well,” Shkaplerov assured them shortly before safely docking.

The U.S. and Russia have long been in a space race, with the Soviet Union beating the U.S. in the 1960s when it put the first humans in space, and the U.S. beating the Soviets by having Neil Armstrong walk on the moon in 1969.