The engines of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, on which the cinema crew is due to return to Earth on October 17, did not turn off as expected during the test, but stopped working when they reached the fuel consumption limit. This was reported on Friday, October 15, at the American Mission Control Center (MCC), the negotiations are broadcast by NASA.
"We know after the crew's communication session with the Ground that the engines have shut down. We think we don't have confirmation yet, but we think they shut down because they reached the fuel consumption limit," a ground specialist from Houston told the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), French astronaut Tom Pesquet.
Earlier on Friday, the ISS lost its orientation in space while testing the engines of the Soyuz spacecraft. According to the specialist, the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft's SUD (motion control system) was tested at the station.
Later, the orientation of the ISS was restored using the engines of the Russian segment. It was also reported that during the testing of the Soyuz MS-18 engines, the operation of the engines affected the orientation of the station.
The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft with actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko was launched on October 5. The rendezvous with the ISS took place according to a two-turn scheme.
In orbit, the film crew will shoot a feature film in space. The picture, called "The Challenge", will be a joint project of Roscosmos, Channel One and the studio Yellow, Black and White.
On October 14, Roscosmos reported that the film crew filmed most of the materials on the ISS. The Soyuz MS-18 crew continues to actively prepare for the upcoming landing.