On Thursday, Russia announced its intention to send a film crew to the International Space Station (ISS) in October to complete the first science fiction film in space, followed by sending Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to the station as the next space tourist in December. These announcements come amid several setbacks in the Russian space sector in recent years, as the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) seeks to recover from corruption scandals and faces stiff competition from Elon Musk's SpaceX.
In the first announcement, the agency indicated it would send billionaire Maezawa and his assistant, Yozo Hirano, who is tasked with documenting the adventure, to the ISS on December 8 aboard a Soyuz rocket. The mission will last 12 days, and Russian astronaut Alexander Misurkin will be the commander. Training for the crew will begin in June. Yusaku Maezawa (45 years old) commented in a statement released by Space Adventures, the intermediary company responsible for organizing the journey, saying, "I have a great curiosity to learn about life in space, so I decided to discover it for myself and share my experience with the world through my YouTube channel."
Roscosmos also announced that in October, actress Yulia Peresild (36 years old) and director Klim Shipenko (37 years old) would be sent to the ISS to film "the first science fiction movie in space." The Russian agency noted that the film will be a "space drama," with the working title "Challenge." The film's production involves the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, who previously declared Russia's goal to become the first country to shoot a film in space, while NASA is collaborating with Hollywood star Tom Cruise for similar purposes. The budget for this Russian project has not been disclosed.
Russia's announcement about resuming missions to the ISS with the Japanese billionaire comes after it lost its monopoly on crewed flights to the station last year when the American Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. Since May 2020, SpaceX rockets and capsules have been capable of sending astronauts to the ISS, and the company has secured massive contracts with NASA as well as European space agencies. This development has cost Russia millions of dollars in typically earned revenue for each seat on space flights.
Roscosmos and Space Adventures previously collaborated between 2001 and 2009 to send wealthy individuals to space on eight missions, the last being with Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil. The eccentric billionaire Maezawa, who will follow in these space tourism missions at the end of the year, made a fortune in e-commerce and has expressed a long-standing passion for space and a desire to participate in space missions. He has announced his intention to bring eight people with him on a space tourism trip around the moon scheduled for 2023 on a SpaceX vehicle owned by Elon Musk. Neither Space Adventures nor Roscosmos disclosed how much Yusaku Maezawa will pay to reserve two of the three seats on the Soyuz vehicle. According to Forbes magazine, costs for a single seat on these trips range from $20 million to $35 million for a stay of eight to twelve days at the ISS.
These revenues are significant, especially following deep cuts to Roscosmos's budget. The space sector has long teetered due to widespread corruption and has incurred losses by missing out on contracts to launch satellites. In addition to space tourism and cinema, Rogozin promised a series of ambitious projects for the country. The latest of these projects includes the decision to abandon the aging ISS by 2025 to build an entirely Russian space station, as was the practice during the Soviet era. Moscow and Beijing also signed a cooperation protocol to establish an orbital station and even a lunar station, after Russia decided to withdraw from a U.S.-led project to build a lunar station due to Moscow's view that it was heavily reliant on American interests. However, none of these projects have been accompanied by specific budgets or timelines. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a review of ongoing projects, emphasizing on the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic spaceflight the importance of Russia remaining a major power in the space sector.
