Russian crew return to Earth after filming first movie in space
A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan's steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.
They were ferried back to terra firma by cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who had been on the space station for the past six months.
"The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!" Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.
The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for "The Challenge".
If the project stays on track, the Russian crew will beat a Hollywood project announced last year by "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centers around a surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut.
Shkaplerov, 49, along with the two Russian cosmonauts who were already aboard the ISS are said to have cameo roles in the film.
The mission was not without small hitches. As the film crew docked at the ISS earlier this month, Shkaplerov had to switch to manual control.
And when Russian flight controllers on Friday conducted a test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft the ship's thruster fired unexpectedly and destabilised the ISS for 30 minutes, a NASA spokesman told the Russian news agency TASS. But the spokesman confirmed their departure would go ahead as scheduled.
(Source: AFP)
Footage shows ruins of Gaza mosque after overnight Israeli strike
Drone footage captures extent of flooding in southern China
Spanish protesters call for end of arms trade with Israel
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
VIDEO | The Rise of Palestine Action
Pro-Palestinian protests gain momentum across US universities
Israel thirsty for murder, blood: Hamas on Gaza mass graves
VIDEO | Crimes and failures in Gaza
VIDEO | Pres. Raeisi says Iran, Pakistan resolved to boost ties on all levels
VIDEO | Footage shows ruins of Gaza mosque after overnight Israeli strike
Pres. Raeisi lauds elites’ role in unifying Iranian, Pakistani nations
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
