With its latest rocket launch, Russia strives to shoot 1st movie in space

Long before Russia's Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft got set to launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 5, the country's latest mission was a broadcast spectacle.

That's because this mission combines the allure of space with the drama of reality television, set against the backdrop of one of history's greatest rivalries. 

The three-person crew destined for the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday includes an actor and director who will be shooting the first feature film in space — beating a NASA-led project that aims to do the same thing with Tom Cruise. 

The launch is set for 4:55 a.m. ET. NASA TV will be streaming it live. 

Besides trying to achieve another space first, officials in Russia say the movie is a bid to sell movie audiences on the new possibilities of space travel. But the project has also faced criticism, including from within Roscosmos, the country's space agency. 

The movie, whose working title is The Challenge, is about a surgeon who has to perform a life-saving operation on a cosmonaut.

Yulia Peresild, 37, a well-known Russian actor, was chosen for the role after successfully navigating a televised tryout entitled Call: The First in Space. The audition and accompanying reality series included rounds of medical tests and scenarios designed to mimic the force of takeoff and the weightlessness of zero gravity.