Russian film crew back on Earth after shooting space station feature

Moscow, Oct. 17, (dpa/GNA) – A Russian actress and a director returned to Earth on Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) making the world’s first feature film actually shot in space.

The capsule which had left the ISS just three hours earlier landed in a cloud of dust in the steppes of Kazakhstan carrying actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko along with cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who has been on the ISS since April.

“Touchdown! Welcome home,” tweeted Russia space agency Roscosmos.

The movie has the provisional title “Vysov” (Challenge) and will tell the story of a doctor, played by Peresild, who has to fly to the ISS to save the life of a cosmonaut who has fallen ill.

According to Russia, it is the first feature film to be shot in the cosmos and not on studio sets on Earth. The United States is also planning to shoot a movie there, but a date has not yet been set.

Roscosmos has also said the aim of the film is to make the industry more appealing to younger people.

Critics, however, say that the project was expensive and the money would have been better spent on research.

GNA

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