"The Challenge" is about a surgeon who is sent to the International Space Station to rescue a sick cosmonaut. For twelve days during October 2021, actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko stayed at the station to film 30 hours of raw material.
The film is a joint project of Roskosmos, Russia's state unit for space activities, and the oldest television channel in Russia, Pervyi Kanal. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the film, saying: "We are the first to have shot a feature film in orbit, aboard a spacecraft. Again, we are first."