MOSCOW—A Russian actress and a film director blasted off for the International Space Station on Tuesday, beating Tom Cruise in the race to shoot the first movie in space. The Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft is set to dock at 12:12 GMT at the station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of around 220 miles. Russian state media provided blanket and patriotic coverage in the run-up, with a countdown clock running on Channel One and news anchors framing the development as a significant breakthrough by Russia that the rest of the world is watching closely. The launch to film the movie “The challenge” puts Russia on course to beat the United States in the latest chapter of the space race. Actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will reach the cosmos ahead of Cruise, whose plans to blast off on a SpaceX rocket for an as-yet-untitled Hollywood film were announced by NASA …