The Russian filmmakers who made the first movie on the space station return to Earth | cinema | entertainment

The Russian actress and film director, who spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shoot the first film in space, is set to return to Earth on Sunday.

Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and director Klim Shipenko, 38, took off on October 5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

With the working title “Challenge”, his film has successfully developed a similar American project led by Hollywood star Tom Cruise.

The Russian film will feature a surgeon aboard the International Space Station who must rescue an astronaut.

In addition to Shkaplerov, two other Russian cosmonauts also appear as extras.

This project reminds, to some extent, of the space rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, 60 years after the Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.

The Russian agency Roscosmos revealed this project last year, after announcing the filming of the Tom Cruise movie, and it was promoted in cooperation with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The flight of Russian filmmakers to the International Space Station was not without incident. Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov had to manually dock the spacecraft to the space laboratory.

While Russian observers were testing the Soyuz MS-18 capsule on Friday that was due to be returned to Earth this weekend, the engines suddenly started and changed the position of the International Space Station, without posing any danger.

space trance

Shipenko began filming before he reached the International Space Station.

The beginning of her recording took place during the docking, where the actress helped cosmonaut Shkaplerov.

After more than 10 days aboard, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky will return to Earth Peresild and Shipenko, who have been staying on the International Space Station for about six months.

The landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan is scheduled for 04:36 GMT on Sunday.

Konstantin Ernst, owner of the Russian network Perfi Canal, which co-produced the film, told AFP that his return to the blue planet will be recorded by a camera crew and he will also appear in the film.

This project has come true at a time of space euphoria in the non-scientific sectors, with recreational flights into space proliferating in recent months, such as those by American billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

The Russian space sector, which was the jewel in the Soviet Union’s crown by sending the first man and first woman into space, has in recent years been plagued by corruption scandals and technical failures, as well as the loss of the monopoly on cosmonaut travel. heading to the International Space Station.

Roscosmos hopes this film will improve its image.

Although images are often taken on space missions, from human first steps on the moon in 1969 to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s social media posts, no fictional movie has ever been filmed in space.

In addition to this feature film, Roscosmos also planned to transport a Japanese billionaire to the International Space Station and thus participate in the space tourism business. (I)