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The Russian Soyuz spacecraft successfully landed in a steppe region of western Kazakhstan at precisely 10:35 AM on October 17th (Kazakhstan time). The Russian Space Agency in Kazakhstan filmed the entire welcoming ceremony for the film crew and broadcast it live on television.
Earlier, on October 5th, a three-person film crew consisting of actress Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko, and astronaut Anton Shkaplerov departed from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) to film scenes for the first film in space, titled The Challenge. The plot has not been revealed in detail, but the main theme revolves around a surgeon sent to the ISS to save an astronaut.
All three had to undergo training before departing on October 5th.
"I feel a little sad today. Perhaps 12 days is a long enough time, the trip is finally over, but I don't want to say goodbye to the astronauts," actress Peresild told Russia's Channel One after landing.
Following this journey, Yulia Peresild also became the first actress to showcase her acting skills in outer space.
Yulia Peresild was taken out of the spacecraft after landing on the ground.
Astronaut Anton Shkaplerov, along with two other Russian astronauts on the ISS, reportedly made cameo appearances in the film The Challenge. This marks the first time the astronauts have undertaken a project unrelated to their daily duties. After 12 days of filming, Anton Shkaplerov will return to the ISS, and he will be replaced by another astronaut, Oleg Novitskiy, to return to Earth with Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko.
Yulia Peresild, Oleg Novitskiy, and Klim Shipenko (from left to right) after their safe return to Earth.
The film was shot under a commercial agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Moscow-based media companies Channel One and Yellow, Black and White. Konstantin Ernst, head of Channel One, said that footage of the film crew's landing will also be included in The Challenge.
The image shows the film crew and the three astronauts, captured during filming in space.
Russia is one of the leading nations in the space race, currently competing fiercely with its two major rivals, the United States and China.
Last year, Moscow's monopoly on space station missions was broken after Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launched American astronauts to the ISS. However, if the film project "The Challenge" goes according to plan, Russia will beat the first Hollywood action film set in space, a project planned by Tom Cruise, SpaceX, and NASA in early 2020.
Russian media also revealed that they will revive a tourism plan to take paying tourists to explore the ISS. After a decade of suspending the plan, Russia will send two Japanese tourists, including billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, to the ISS this December, marking a significant milestone for the country's space tourism industry.
