Moscow - Russian actor Vladimir Steklov will literally join the stars next month after receiving the all-clear to fly to the Mir space station to shoot a feature film, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Tuesday.
Having successfully completed rigorous medical tests and training, Steklov will blast off to the Russian orbiter on March 31 on a Soyuz rocket with cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri, officials said at the Gagarin training camp outside Moscow.
Steklov, an actor in Moscow's Theatre of Modern Play, will stay at Mir for 45 days to film the space sequences of The last Journey.
The $60-million (about R36-million) project of Russian director Yury Kara will tell the story of a cosmonaut who refuses to leave the station before it is scrapped.
Steklov will give his last pre-flight performance on March 11 in a play called Notes of a Russian Traveller, and has invited acting President Vladimir Putin to join an audience of art and culture celebrities.
Once in space, he will have little time for stargazing. Just as the two regular cosmonauts will act as cameramen in the film, the actor's months of training allow him to assist them in all scheduled flight work and repairs aboard the Mir.
The 14-year-old Mir has been orbiting Earth unmanned since last August when state funding dried up, and was due to be scrapped in spring.
It received an indefinite extension of service when the Russian government allocated more funding and more money was provided by foreign sponsors who want to use Mir for advertisements, research and even as a hotel for millionaire guests.
Despite a string of serious accidents and breakdowns aboard Mir in recent years, ground controllers insist the station is still safe and in good shape. - Sapa-DPA