Irene Klotz Science fiction becomes science fact as iconic Star Trek actor flies in space.
Irene Klotz
Actor William Shatner, second from left, and fellow passengers, from left, Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries meet with reporters after an Oct. 13 ride on Blue Origin’s New Shepard system. Credit: Irene Klotz/AW&ST
As William Shatner joined two paying passengers and a Blue Origin vice president for a suborbital space ride in October, a Russian actress and her director shot scenes aboard the International Space Station for an upcoming movie. And so begins the next chapter in the commercialization of space, which, unlike the initial cluster of privately financed spaceflights from 1990 to 2009, appears to be sustainable.
Scene shot for Russian feature film
Space view stuns actor Shatner
Russia’s stalwart Soyuz spacecraft is back in the charter business, with seats previously reserved for NASA and International Space Station (ISS) partners now available for sale. First up: Russian film actress Yulia Peresild and producer-director Klim Shipenko, accompanied by veteran cosmonaut and ISS Expedition 66 crewmember Anton Shkaplerov. The trio launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-19 on Oct. 5 and reached the ISS 3 hr. later.
Over the next 10 days, Peresild and Shipenko filmed scenes for a sci-fi drama, provisionally titled “Vyzov” (Russian for “challenge”). Peresild portrays a medical doctor who makes an emergency house call to the ISS to perform surgery on an ailing cosmonaut. The patient is played by an actual cosmonaut, Oleg Novitskiy, who returned from his third mission aboard the ISS with Peresild and Shipenko on Oct. 17.
NASA allowed one scene to be shot inside the Cupola module, in the station’s U.S. segment, while all other filming took place aboard Russian modules. In all, about 35-40 min. of footage shot in space is expected to be included in the film, according to Roscosmos, the Russian State Space Corp.
The venture, backed by Russia’s state-owned television outlet, Channel One, is due to become the first feature-length movie with scenes shot in space. Another production company, headed by U.S. actor Tom Cruise, last year signed an agreement with NASA to discuss filming aboard the ISS, but no timeline for the project has been announced.
The day after reaching the International Space Station, Russian actress Yulia Peresild (top row, fourth from left) and her director, Klim Shipenko (bottom row, second from left), joined the station crew aboard the Unity module for a meal and group portrait. Credit: NASA
Meanwhile, Russia is preparing to launch another private Soyuz mission to the ISS, which for the first time will not carry any ISS expedition crewmembers nor serve as a crew lifeboat. Instead, veteran cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will ferry Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and his production assistant Yozo Hirano to the ISS for a 12-day mission slated to launch on Dec. 8. Virginia-based Space Adventures, which previously brokered eight private spaceflight missions to the ISS between 2001 and 2009, procured the seats for an undisclosed sum.
While Peresild performed in orbit, another actor long affiliated with space stepped back into the spotlight—though not as part of a film production. In a surreal twist, William Shatner, the Canadian actor who brought depictions of space exploration to millions of households through his portrayal of Capt. James T. Kirk in the 1966-69 “Star Trek” TV show, got a real taste of space as a guest passenger aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft.
Shatner, 90, joined Blue Origin’s Audrey Powers, an engineer-turned-lawyer who oversees New Shepard mission and flight operations, and paying passengers Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries for a 10-min. flight on Oct. 13.
“There is a great deal of curiosity about this fictional character going into space,” Shatner said during a preflight interview. “Having played the role of Capt. Kirk, everyone assigns me the knowledge that a futuristic astronaut would have. But I’ve always been consumed with curiosity, and it’s the adventure that I feel so good doing.”
The 1960s “Star Trek” series spawned a feature film franchise, with Shatner returning as Capt. Kirk in seven movies, one of which he directed. Shatner also starred in the TV series “T.J. Hooker” and hosted the “Rescue 911” reality show. He currently serves as the host and executive producer of The History Channel’s “The Un-Xplained.” Shatner now holds the record for the oldest person to fly in space.
Blue Origin declined to say what Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, and de Vries, co-founder of clinical research platform Medidata Solutions and vice chair of Dassault Systemes’ Life Sciences & Healthcare, paid for their seats. The venture included a two-day training program and accommodations at Blue Origin’s spaceport in West Texas. The complex is built on 150,000 acres of land north of Van Horn, Texas, that is owned by Blue Origin founder and financier Jeff Bezos.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule returned from its fourth suborbital flight, paving the way for a fifth flight in December. Credit: Blue Origin
On Oct. 13, after a one-day delay due to high winds, Shatner and his crewmates were driven out to the launchpad by Bezos himself, who dressed in the blue flight suit he wore as a passenger on Blue Origin’s first passenger flight on July 20.
The reusable New Shepard rocket lifted off at 9:49 a.m. local time, marking the company’s 18th spaceflight and the second with people aboard. The 60-ft.-tall booster shot into the clear blue sky over the West Texas desert, powered by a liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine.
The engine shut down 2 min. 20 sec. later, setting the stage for capsule separation. Shatner and his crewmates coasted for 4 min. before reaching apogee at 351,186 ft. The booster meanwhile began descending back to Earth, touching down about 2 mi. from its launchpad.
Aboard the capsule, crewmembers experienced a few minutes of microgravity and a view that left Shatner stunned. “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine,” Shatner told Bezos after landing. “I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this.”
“This whole thing is science fiction turned into science fact,” de Vries added during post-landing interviews with reporters. “I don’t care if it’s physics or biology or chemistry. What you’re seeing is taking something that was imaginary and making it real.”
Blue Origin has not yet announced passengers for its next crewed flight, which is expected in December.
