Russian crew blasts off to film movie in space

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

A Russian actor and film director blasted off to space Tuesday as part of a mission to film portions of a new movie and bolster the nation’s prestige.

Actor Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov took off for their 3-and-a-half hour flight to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft around 1:55 pm, The Associated Press reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russians “have been pioneers in space and maintained a confident position.”

...snip...

Peresild and Shipenko spoke at a pre-flight press conference of the rigorous training process necessary to film a movie in space. The film, “Challenge,” depicts in part a surgeon who is taken to a space station to operate on a crew member, The AP noted.



Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/575397-russian-crew-blasts-off-to-film-movie-in-space

[bluewater]

1. Talk about filming on location!

[caraher]

2. I guess they've run out of science

Physicist Bob Park used to publish an email digest called "What's New" of mostly physics news, but from a highly opinionated perspective. He drew a lot of ire for his skepticism about the scientific value of sending humans into space, deriding it as a high tech, expensive version of "flagpole sitting."

So we have ISS as a movie studio and multiple billionaire vanity projects as the current state of the art for humans in space, all skimming just above Earth's atmosphere. The truly exciting space exploration and useful applications of space flight work better without the overhead of keeping primates alive in a hostile environment.

I always thought Bob was a bit harsh, but stories like this and the Shatner announcement make me think he was more right than wrong

[groundloop]

3. I still disagree with his perspective... it's just that the ultra rich are doing what they always do

Some science can better be done by non inhabited spacecraft. But there's other science, in my opinion, that is better accomplished hands on. Sadly the ultra rich are once again exerting their status and privelege.