Russian actress, cameraman rocket into orbit for first movie shoot in space

Chalking up a space first of sorts, a Russian actress, her director and a veteran cosmonaut rocketed into orbit and set off after the International Space Station early Tuesday to film scenes for a movie about a medical emergency aboard the lab complex.

With commander Anton Shkaplerov at the controls, flanked on the left by producer-director Klim Shipenko and on the right by actress Yulia Peresild, the Soyuz MS-19/65S spacecraft thundered away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan at 4:55 a.m. EDT (1:55 p.m. local time).

Live video from inside the cockpit showed all three crew members monitoring instruments and displays as the Soyuz 2.1a rocket accelerated out of the dense lower atmosphere through a clear blue sky.