2023-04-18 16:23:58
“If the award happens, it will devalue the feat of real astronauts”
Professional cosmonauts reacted sharply to the idea of awarding actress Yulia Peresild the Star of the Hero of the Russian Federation for a 12-day flight to the ISS. The members of the Guild of Russian Film Actors came up with the intention to award one of their colleagues with the country’s highest award.
We phoned the director of the Guild, Valeria Gushchina, and she confirmed her intention to file an application with the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation the other day.
“So far, we do not have any documents in this regard,” said Valeria Alexandrovna. – On Friday there will be a meeting of the board of the Screen Actors Guild, at which we will discuss this issue. But, as I said earlier, the idea, the desire (to propose to award Peresild with the star of the Hero of Russia) has matured with us, it remains only to clothe it in a written appeal. We were sure that this issue had already been resolved in the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation…”.
Recall that the flight into space of actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko took place on October 5, 2021 on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft. The commander of the ship, Anton Shkaplerov, was the only professional cosmonaut due to the fact that the Soyuz MS ship is designed for only three crew members. In Roskosmos itself, on whose funds this flight was made, many were then unhappy with the fact that for the sake of a feature film the funds so necessary for serious research in space were being spent, and the previously built flight schedule of the Russian cosmonaut corps was also being disrupted.
Commentary of the pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of Russia Elena Serova:
– If this award happens, it will devalue the feat of real astronauts. After all, they undergo the most difficult training before going into space, they are awarded only for special services to the Fatherland! With all due respect to the artists, tourists who flew to the ISS for a short time, as part of the visiting program, until recently, the Title of Hero of Russia has never been awarded. Our film crew, in fact, was brought into orbit as tourists.
That’s who I would give the second Hero for that flight, so it’s Anton Shkaplerov, who alone controlled the spacecraft, designed for two pilots. The ship was specially modified so that he had the ability to control it. Not only that, he single-handedly coped with the emergency situation that arose when they docked with the station. I would give the second Hero to Petr Dubrov, who, because of this project, stayed in space for half a year longer than planned … Their work was amazing!
I do not mind that, in addition to the rather big fees that Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko probably received, the management additionally appreciated their work, but this should still not be the country’s highest award.
Commentary of pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin:
– I would like to ask those leaders of Roscosmos who, before the start of the cinematic project, just like many cosmonauts, expressed their negative attitude towards it: do they consider it appropriate to award artists the country’s highest award for their work? Is this normal, given that professional astronauts wait a long time after their flights to be awarded? I would like to ask the professional community of astronauts: is this normal for them?
At the end of March, at the invitation of the Union of Journalists of Russia, I participated in the award ceremony for the best correspondents who today write their reports from the country’s hot spots for courage in the performance of their official duty. Many of them were posthumously (!) awarded not the stars of Heroes, but the Order of Courage. I would like to ask their widows and orphans, the entire journalistic community: will it be normal for you if, against the background of the exploits of your relatives and colleagues, participants in a short-term space flight, non-professional cosmonauts are immediately given a Hero star?!
I have always opposed this project being implemented at public expense. I believe that if Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko are given the highest state awards, then it would be fair to give the titles of People’s Artists of the Russian Federation to those cosmonauts who accompanied them on the flight: Oleg Novitsky, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, and those active members of Roscosmos who helped them on Earth, to give the titles of honored artists.
Newspaper headline:
Does an undeserved star shine?
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