Names and faces
■ The AARP will present Michael J. Fox an award for his work through his charity that advocates for Parkinson’s research. On Tuesday, the organization announced that Fox will receive its honorary AARP Purpose Prize award during a virtual ceremony on Dec 15. The Emmy-winning actor, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, will be recognized for his work with his Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Fox’s foundation — which launched in 2000 — has funded more than $1 billion in global research programs. He currently sits on the foundation’s board of directors and travels to speak on behalf of the organization. Five other people will be awarded the AARP Purpose Prize, which honors people ages 50 and older who “give back, tackle societal challenges.” Recipients include William Bracken of Fountain Valley, Calif., whose Bracken’s Kitchen repurposes and donates food that would have been trashed; Raymond Jetson of Baton Rouge, whose MetroMorphosis organization works to engage volunteers to change urban communities; Alan Miller of Bethesda, Md., whose News Literacy Project works to help people identify credible news sources; Ify Nwabukwu of Lanham, Md., whose African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association provides cancer screening and treatment access; and Rita Zimmer of New York, whose HousingPlus provides services to women and children to help them overcome poverty. Each prize winner will receive $50,000 for their organization.
■ A Russian actress and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the world’s first movie in orbit, a project the Kremlin said will help burnish the nation’s space glory. Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and arrived at the station after about 3½ hours. Peresild, 37, and Shipenko are to film segments of a new movie titled “Challenge,” in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut. On Monday, Peresild acknowledged that it was challenging for her to adapt to the strict discipline and rigorous demands during the training. Shipenko, 38, also described their fasttrack, four-month preparation for the flight as tough. Shipenko, who will complete the shooting on Earth after filming the movie’s space episodes, said Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts now on board the station — Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov — will all play parts in the new movie.