Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, Russian actress Yulia Peresild, and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko arrived on Earth at 12:35 a.m. EDT on Sunday, October 17 in Kazakhstan (10:35 a.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the isolated hamlet of Dzhezkazgan.

At 9:14 p.m., the three left the International Space Station in their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft.

Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild launched into orbit on October 5 for a 12-day stay to shoot a film called The Challenge, which the Russian space agency Roscosmos claimed would help attract the “cream of the crop” to the industry.

The movie revolves on a doctor, portrayed by Peresild, who is requested to go to the space station in order to save the life of a cosmonaut.

Mr Novitsky and Peter Dubrov, who were already on board the ISS when the crew docked, and Anton Shkaplerov, who travelled to the ISS with Peresild, also took part in shooting the shots, which were directed on site by Shipenko.

In all, about 35-40 minutes of screen time should have been shot in orbit.

A Russian trio said farewell to the station crew and closed the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship hatch at 4:41pm ET today. They undock at 9:14pm this evening. More… https://t.co/Hwwr4AEUI7 pic.twitter.com/aXFOtG2H1O

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 16, 2021

According to analysts, the Russian film intended to be the first to be shot in space before a Hollywood production revealed earlier this year including star Tom Cruise, NASA, and SpaceX.

Ground crews pulled the three from the capsule and sat them in nearby chairs to acclimatize to gravity before transporting them to a medical tent for testing.

All seemed to be in good health and spirits, with a smiling Peresild clutching a big bouquet of white flowers as reporters gathered around her.

The actress and director’s recovery would take approximately a week, according to Roscosmos, and their first press appearance will be on Tuesday.

Seven astronauts remain on board the space station: Russia’s Mr Shkaplerov and Mr Dubrov, Americans Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, and Megan McArthur, European Space Agency’s Thomas Pesquet, and Japan’s Aki Hoshide.

Image Credit: Reuters

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