Quote:A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian film crew docked at the International Space Station today (Oct. 5) after a short flight from Earth to begin a 12-day movie shoot in orbit.

The Soyuz linked up with the space station at 8:22 am EDT after a four-hour trip that began with a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz ferried Russian actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko to the station alongside veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who commanded the capsule. Peresild and Shipenko will spend the next 12 days shooting scenes for a space film called "The Challenge" on the station.

The fast-track rendezvous sent the Soyuz on a two-orbit trip around Earth to reach the International Space Station, which it did completely automatically under Shkaplerov's watchful eye. The Soyuz was also expected to dock itself at the Earth-facing Rassvet module on the station, but an communications issue forced Shkaplerov to take manual control of the capsule to dock the spacecraft.

(10-05-2021, 06:18 PM)Shionari Wrote: Seems like a rather expensive decision to make for a movie, though. I wonder if it will be worth all this money they put into it.

(10-05-2021, 06:28 PM)Dismas Wrote:

(10-05-2021, 06:18 PM)Shionari Wrote: Seems like a rather expensive decision to make for a movie, though. I wonder if it will be worth all this money they put into it.

This was my initial thought, but a decent blockbuster could actually cover the expense. For example, Avengers: Endgame grossed $357 million on opening weekend. It's a lot of money, but it could easily cover a few people going to space. A seat on Bezos' flight was sold at auction for $28 million, to give some comparison.