The Russian movie crew that traveled to the International Space Station to movie scenes for the primary film shot partially in area returned to Earth safely on Sunday. The milestone will probably give Russian movie trade a small win over Hollywood, which additionally goals to shoot a film on the ISS that includes Tom Cruise sooner or later.

On Saturday, actress Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko, and Oleg Novitsky—a real-life cosmonaut who’s been on the ISS since April and likewise performed an element within the film—headed again to Earth on a Russian Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft. They landed with no incidents within the Kazakhstan desert at 10:35 a.m. native time after a roughly three-hour trip.

In complete, Peresild and Shipenko spent 12 days in area filming scenes for his or her film The Challenge, through which Peresild portrays an working surgeon who prepares for a flight to the ISS to avoid wasting an ailing cosmonaut’s (reportedly played by Novitsky) life.

“The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!” the Russian area company Roscosmos, which is a part of the joint movie venture, mentioned on Twitter, in accordance with a translation by AFP.

In truth, the crew form of needed to really feel good, as a result of they weren’t performed filming. The movie crew on Earth obtained proper to work whereas Russian officers helped Peresild, Shipenko, and Novitsky out of the MS-18 capsule. The New York Times reported {that a} producer may very well be seen shouting directions on the livestream of the touchdown supplied by Roscosmos and NASA.

“Guys, please, let us do some shooting,” the producer mentioned. “Please, do not do any filming on your smartphones. Do not take any videos, because right now, this is actually the future end of the movie.”

That finish apparently featured at the least 4 takes of a scene through which an actor greets Novitsky after which proceeds to method Peresild to kiss her hand. In considered one of these takes, Peresild regarded over to Novitsky and winked with a smile, the Times said. The crew will now participate in a 10-day rehabilitation program to assist them get better from the consequences of residing in area.

Although The Challenge is a drama film, it’s unlikely that the movie crew anticipated to expertise actual drama whereas aboard the ISS. On Friday, the ISS was tilted out of its place throughout a test of the MS-18’s engines, which fired longer than anticipated. Thankfully, Russian and NASA officers managed to right the ISS’s positioning in half-hour.

The scenes could also be shot, however battle for the primary film filmed in area isn’t over but. Although Russia is forward of Hollywood within the race, it nonetheless wants to truly end the movie.