Island ‘at mercy’ of volcano
A SOYUZ space capsule carrying a cosmonaut and two Russian filmmakers has landed after returning from the International Space Station.
The capsule, descending under a red-and-white striped parachute after entering Earth’s atmosphere, landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on schedule early yesterday morning after a three-and-a-half hour journey with Oleg Novitskiy, Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko aboard.
Filming
Actress Peresild and film director Shipenko rocketed to the space station on October 5 for a 12- day stint to film segments of a movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon ( played by Peresild) rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit.
Novitskiy, who spent more than six months aboard the space station, is to star as the ailing cosmonaut in the movie.
After the landing, ground crews extracted the three space flyers from the capsule and placed them in seats set up nearby as they adjusted to the pull of gravity.
THERE is no sign that a volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma is coming to an end, four weeks after it began, officials said.
The volcano on one of the Canary Islands has so far destroyed more than 1,800 buildings, mostly homes, though prompt evacuations have helped avoid casualties.
Canary Islands president Angel Victor Torres said scientists have seen no indications that the eruption abating — as rivers of lava continue flowing slowly towards the sea.
“We are at the mercy of the volcano,” Mr Torres said. “It’s the only one who can decide when this ends.”