Filmmakers filmed the first movie in space: everything you need to know

A Russian actress and film director who spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shoot the first fictional film in space returned safely to Earth this Sunday morning.

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that transported 37-year-old actress Yulia Peresild and 38-year-old director Klim Shipenko, along with cosmonaut Oleg Novitski, landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 04:36 GMT (11:36 p.m. in Peru). ), according to images relayed by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

As he exited the ship, Shipenko appeared tired but smiling, and waved to the cameras and the people present, before being brought in for a medical check-up.

Yulia Peresild, the actress who plays the lead role in the film and was chosen from among 3,000 candidates, was then removed from the apparatus, amid applause, before receiving a bouquet of flowers.

The actress said she had left the ISS.

“It seemed like 12 days was going to be a long time, but when it was over, I didn’t want to leave.” he told Russian television. “It is a unique experience”.

Cosmonaut Novitsky, who was the first to leave the ship, was greeted by the head of Roscosmos, Dmitri Rogozin, to whom he said: “Everything is going well!”.

US-Russia rivalry

The Russian filmmakers had departed for the ISS on October 5 from the Russian space base in Baikonur in Kazakhstan, accompanied by cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

For his part, Rogozin previously published photos of his team when aboard ten helicopters.

“It is a colossal job. We are happy that the crew is feeling good, it is comforting. The ship did not fall sideways, which is better for extraction ”, Rogozin said.

his film managed to get ahead of a similar American project led by Hollywood star Tom Cruise.

The Russian film will show a surgeon aboard the

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

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

The Russian agency Roscosmos revealed this project last year, after the filming of was announced, promoted in collaboration with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

The Russian filmmakers’ journey to the ISS was not without incident. Shkaplerov had to manually dock the spacecraft to the space lab.

While Russian controllers were doing tests on Friday in the Soyuz MS-18 capsule that was supposed to transfer them back to Earth this weekend, the engines, without this posing any danger.

space euphoria

Shipenko started filming before arriving on the ISS.

The beginning of her recording took place during the docking, in which the actress helped Shkaplerov.

His return to the blue planet was recorded by Konstantin Ernst, owner of the Russian chain Pervy Kanal, which co-produces the film, told AFP.

This project came to fruition at a time of space euphoria in non-scientific sectors, with the multiplication in recent months of leisure trips to space, such as those made by American billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

The Russian space sector, which was the jewel in the crown of the USSR by sending the first man and the first woman into space, has been peppered in recent years by corruption scandals and technical failures, in addition to

Roscosmos hopes that this film will improve his image.

Although images are often taken on space missions, from man’s first steps on the moon in 1969 to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s social media posts, never before has a fictional movie been shot in space.

In addition to this feature film, Roscosmos has also planned to bring a Japanese billionaire to the ISS and thus participate in the space tourism business.

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