The trailer for the Russian film to be shot in space
At a news conference Monday in Star City, Russia, Wanda Hay said he might be forced to relinquish his seat on Soyuz’s return flight in the fall in favor of a Russian film director and actress who will star in it. If that happens, Shonda Hay and Peter Dubrov – one of two Russian cosmonauts to take off next month – will have to wait for Soyuz’s next flight, most likely in the spring of 2022.
In early May last year, it was reported that Tom Cruise was working with NASA and SpaceX founder Elon Musk on a first film to be shot in outer space. “Fly to the stars, and become a star,” is the slogan, and the film’s temporary name is “Vizov,” a challenge.
The film is designed to showcase Russian activity in space and praise the cosmonauts. It is not yet clear how many excerpts from the film will be shot in space, but in any case Russian cosmonauts will train to serve as photographers and recorders. The cosmonaut-actress, who she and her deputy have not yet been selected, will likely be launched in October along with the easy-to-indulge director, and the two will spend about a week on the space station before returning to Earth.
In November, the unusual job description was published, and actresses – along with women who aspire to play and reach space – were invited to apply. After selecting an actress and deputy, which is expected in a month, they will undergo three months of training. That actress will be just the fifth Russian woman in space.
Like the job, the list of requirements was unconventional, and very long. These are, among others: Russian citizenship, aged 25 to 45, bachelor’s degree, without criminal record, basic knowledge of foreign languages, height 1.50 m to 1.80 m, weight between 50 and 75 kg, foot length of up to 29.5 cm and a chest circumference of up to 112 cm.
The actress should be in excellent physical shape. Candidates had to declare that they could run kilometers in at least 3:30 minutes (or 5 km cross-country skiing in less than 24:30 minutes), swim 800 meters freestyle at 20:10 (or 22: 30 minutes in chest style), make a good jump into the water from a three-meter high jump, dive to a distance of at least 20 meters – and that’s just part of the long list.
And back to astronaut Wanda Hay, who due to those film footage will have to stay about a year on the space station. He’s not complaining. “Honestly, for me this is an opportunity for a new life experience,” he told reporters. “I’ve never been in space for more than six months. I’m passionate about this possibility.” NASA wants astronauts to stay in space for a long time to study the human body’s adaptation to weightlessness, especially in preparation for the planned trips to Mars, in a few years.
Wanda Hay has been added to the upcoming Soyuz team in place of a Russian cosmonaut, with the aim of retaining the US presence on the space station in the event of a postponement of the upcoming launch of SpaceX that is not expected to occur before April 22. Until the beginning of the manned launches of the private company’s space station, Russia was the only one to fly astronauts into space since the shutdown of NASA’s space shuttles.
The operations in the American part of the space lab would have been hit if there were no Americans on the space station, only Russians. Wanda Hi, who said this, noted that this is also a symbolic matter – after 20 years of continuous presence of American astronauts in space.
The good news is that NASA has been able to launch its clothing there. Otherwise, the former military officer would have had to wear much larger-sized clothing, which is generally intended for another astronaut. This week Wanda is expected to receive his second corona vaccine dose. And Russian crew members are training with space suits: “It’s very uncomfortable, but it’s the right thing to do.”