No exceptions made for film crew before flight to ISS — Roscosmos chief

BAIKONUR, October 5. /TASS/. All the pre-launch traditions were painstakingly observed ahead of the two Russian film-makers' trip to the ISS with no exceptions made, the CEO of Russia's Rocosmos corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, said when asked if the space crew were treated to a glass of sparkling wine. "We made no exceptions. Everything that was to be done was done," Rogozin said without elaborating if he was also referring to the custom of offering cosmonauts a glass of champagne in the morning before the flight. The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle blasted off from Baikonur at 11:55 Moscow time on Tuesday. Automated docking with the ISS failed and the operation had to be performed manually. The Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft brought to the ISS cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko, who will film scenes for what is to become the world's first full-length movie shot in outer space. It will be a story of a female doctor who agrees to go on a space mission to save a cosmonaut's life. Read more