After filming first movie in space, Russian crew heads for Earth | World News

A Russian crew, comprising actor Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and veteran cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, is set to return to Earth after spending 12 days in space shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit called “Challenge”.

According to news agency AP, the separation took place on schedule at 6:45am IST on Sunday with Yulia Peresild, Klim Shipenko and Novitskiy aboard for a descent of about three and a half hours. The spaceship will land on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Peresild, 37, and Shipenko, 38, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on October 5.

They blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, travelling to the ISS with Anton Shkaplerov, another veteran cosmonaut.

But they belatedly docked at the ISS at 5.52 pm IST after Shkaplerov switched to manual control. “Welcome to the ISS!” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Twitter.

The movie Challenge is about a surgeon played by Yulia Peresild, who is dispatched to the ISS to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. Oleg Novitskiy plays the role of the ailing cosmonaut in the movie. Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, cosmonauts aboard the ISS, are also said to have cameo roles.

“There are only 12 hours left before the spacecraft undocks and returns to Earth. I will miss the space views. Thanks to the subscribers for following our expedition. It was very interesting for me to share with you moments from life at the station and receive feedback,” Novitskiy tweeted on Saturday.

If the movie project is successful, Russia will defeat a Hollywood project which was announced in 2020 by actor Tom Cruise together with American space agency Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. For years, the United States and Russia locked horns in what was called a space race. Both the countries utilised their resources to the maximum to achieve superiority in spaceflight capability.

While Russia became the first-ever country to launch the first satellite and send an animal, a man and a woman into orbit; the United States created history by sending cosmonauts on the Moon.

However, the space race between Russia and the US also led to the creation of several conspiracy theories including lost cosmonauts and the fake moon landing.

(With agency inputs)