Rogozin scorned
Again, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, lashes out at the US government.
On Monday, the US Department of Commerce imposed economic sanctions against a long list of Chinese and Russian companies linked to their respective militaries, Ars Technica reports. Among them is the Progress Rocket Space Center in Samara, Russia, which makes the Soyuz rockets that have driven astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station for nearly a decade. Rogozin is not enthusiastic about the burnt bridge, which calls the sanctions “illegal” and “stupid” – drawing attention to the shaky relationship between the two great space powers.
Within Jabs
Rogozin appears to have taken the sanctions personally, doubling down on his 2014 comment that NASA might as well use a trampoline to send astronauts into space as it is going to cut ties with Roscosmos.
The “trampoline” commentary, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk rubbed not-so-subtly in Rogozin’s face after SpaceX transported astronauts to the ISS in June, has become a common theme in Rogozin’s frequent eruptions.
Poison the source
Rozogin argues that the U.S. government may not have given thought to the idea of imposing sanctions on a company it relied on for most of a decade.
“Now it appears that our American colleagues have their ‘trampoline back to work,’ and the first thing they did is spit it into the Samara well,” Rogozin said of the sanctions, said Ars. “Isn’t it too early, colleagues, in case your ‘trampoline’ suddenly breaks down again and you have to satisfy your passion for space from our source again?”
READ MORE: The Russian space chief loves the latest US restrictions [Ars Technica]
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