Director Klim Shipenko: I’m a real extreme man.

Who among us has not dreamed of being in space? And director Klim Shipenko succeeded. Moreover, he became the first to shoot a movie right on the ISS – his “Challenge” became an inspiration for millions of viewers. Klim himself is sure that everyone can be in space, and you need to start small – with a dream. The director has been involved in sports since childhood, and therefore discipline and fortitude did not allow him to stray from his chosen path.

Klim shared his space story with “Championship”, and also told about his sports past in CSKA, his children’s upbringing and gave advice to everyone who dreams of being among the vast expanses of space.

Klim Shipenko

director

“The desire to win, to be the first in any endeavor, to finish what has been started – these are the character traits a person acquires by playing professional sports. Besides, sport gives you the opportunity to feel the drive, the spirit of competition, the importance of every moment. I remember during basketball games I always fought for every ball and every point. At one point I even thought I would become a basketball player.

I take everything from life

As a kid, I played basketball for CSKA for a long time. I loved this activity and everything that was connected with it. I often remember this period of my life. My coaches were strict, but I loved them very much. Discipline and sport helped me in the future.

I try my best to instill in my children a love of sports. My eldest son – he is now 16 – is also involved in basketball. True, not at a professional level, as I once did, but nevertheless he knows how to play. Sometimes we train together. I know from my own experience what sport is and how much it builds character, so I try to pass this knowledge to my children as much as possible.

In addition to basketball, my family and I are involved in winter sports – skiing and snowboarding. I am very good at boarding and my kids are very good at skiing. My youngest son is now 3.5 years old and I’m sure he will join us soon too. I hope that he will play basketball as well as I do. I am always in favor of active recreation and, of course, I try to find time to instill this love in my children by example. I try to keep them interested and engaged in every possible way.

On the set of the movie “Kholop 2”

But most importantly, in addition to interest in sports, I want children to know how to become a good person and remain a good person while living in this world, how to treat people, to appreciate what you have. Just all these human values we showed in the movie “Holop 2”, which will be released on January 1.

In winter, by the way, there is another sport, you could say, a kind of sport – clearing snow from the territories adjacent to the house. It is also quite a healthy activity, which replaces a trip to the gym. Sport, of course, both gives you energy and allows you to release it. In this sense, it is like that – what you need, happens, that’s why I’ve been side by side with sports all my life.

Everything you want to do in this life is risky and dangerous, but nevertheless it’s boring to live without doing anything.

I love its extreme types: wakesurfing, paragliding, rock climbing and many others. I try to take everything from life! Perhaps the only thing I don’t do yet is jumping from heights in a squirrel suit. Otherwise, I’m a real extreme sportsman. Of course, I couldn’t pass up the chance to fly into space.

A man can fly

When I was offered to fly into space, I did not think for a second. It was impossible to refuse such an offer. Was I worried about the possible risks? No. First of all, I knew a lot about space. According to statistics, no cosmonaut who flew on a Soviet or Russian rocket had ever died during a flight. Secondly, I trusted the thousands of people who ensured my safety. I knew how serious and reliable they were, so I flew with peace of mind. And in general, driving a car through the city in ice or snowfall is much scarier than flying into space.

During the work on “Challenge” was quite an intensive schedule of preparation and filming, so after arriving at the ISS, I gave myself time to rest. I can not determine the composition of this fatigue, because when I shoot movies on Earth, I am also very tired after filming. I put myself out and do not spare myself, so I can not understand how much fatigue was affected by the flight to space. It took me four days to rehabilitate after weightlessness when I returned to Earth.

Weightlessness is like a dream. We sometimes dream that we are flying and it doesn’t cost us any effort. In a dream, we fly like birds or like Superman pushing off a building and nothing interferes – that’s how weightlessness feels in space. It’s a miracle! A man can fly.

Everyone says to you, “A man cannot fly.” But you realize that he can, once you are in this environment.

In the process of preparation for the flight, I went through a huge number of nuances – you can talk about it for hours. But if I were to give advice on this topic, I can say one thing – dream and move in this direction. It was not by chance that I was chosen for the flight. I knew well about space, as I had filmed a lot on this topic on Earth, communicated with “Roscosmos”, flew to Baikonur. I felt how space penetrated my thoughts and my soul. I touched space not with my foot, but with one finger before I was offered to fly and make a movie.

Space food

The ISS has a fairly varied diet, the food is quite edible. It is certainly not the best restaurant you can imagine, but nevertheless the food in space is normal and even tasty.

There is a lot of canned food. There is both meat and fish. You can choose different side dishes – rice, buckwheat, soups, salads and appetizers. There’s everything, even black caviar. I don’t eat black caviar so often on Earth, but in space I did, and it was quite tasty.

There’s a 25 to 30 percent shift in flavor functions. Kharcho soup, it is still kharcho soup there – a little different, but it is always different on Earth. Depends on the restaurant. Everything there is quite tasty. Food peculiarities are not the biggest inconvenience in space.

In normal life I don’t live on burgers and potatoes. I try to eat seafood, salads. I don’t indulge in fast food, but I’m not what you’d call a healthy eater either.