Status: 10/17/2021 8:34 a.m.
It is a prestige success for Russian space travel: after twelve days of shooting in space, a film team has landed safely back on earth – a point victory in the race with the USA.
After filming on the International Space Station ISS, a Russian film team has safely returned to Earth. The Soyuz capsule with actress Julia Peressild and director Klim Schipenko on board landed in the steppe of Kazakhstan in Central Asia that morning.
Live images from the Russian space agency Roskosmos showed how the MS-18 could initially be seen as a small point in the cloudless sky. The capsule hovered on a large parachute for the last few kilometers before hitting the ground.
“Welcome home,” tweeted Roscosmos. The crew is fine after the more than three-hour flight. It landed 148 kilometers southeast of the city of Shekazgan. The cosmonaut Oleg Nowizki, who had been on the ISS since April, also sat in the space capsule. In addition to doctors and other experts, Roskosmos boss Dmitri Rogozin also flew to the landing site.
Race with the USA
It was the first time in the history of space travel that a film crew had been on the ISS. The shooting lasted twelve days. The film, announced as a space drama, has the working title “Wysow” (challenge). He tells of a doctor who has to fly to the space station to save the life of a sick cosmonaut. The medicin is played by Peressild, Novitsky took over the role of the sick spaceman.
Roskosmos announced the project just after NASA announced plans to shoot on the ISS with Hollywood star Tom Cruise for the action film series “Mission Impossible”. So far there is no date for the NASA project.
According to the Russian space agency, it is also about re-awakening young people’s interest in jobs in space. Critics complain that a lot of money was put into the project instead of into research. How much the trip into space cost is not yet known. Roscosmos boss Rogozin hopes that income from future flights by space tourists could cover the costs. He has already received inquiries from interested parties, he told the Interfax agency.