In 2014, Dmitri Rogozin, managing director of Roscosmos, was targeted by American sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I suggest that the United States use a trampoline to send their astronauts to the International Space Station”, he laughs then on Twitter. At the time, NASA actually used Soyuz launchers from Moscow.
On May 30, SpaceX’s first manned flight for NASA successfully dispatched two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Elon Musk had not forgotten Rogozin’s little phrase. “The trampoline worked”, he joked at a press conference following the launch.
At first, Dmitri Rogozine seemed to take it well. “I loved his joke!”, did he even tweet, congratulating NASA, Elon Musk and looking forward to “Future cooperation”.
Unexpected rebound
But it did not take long to spread in a grandstand published by Forbes. He explains that SpaceX did not beat Russia, but Boeing; that the company is stuffed with public money; that its vessels are very heavy; that the United States should be more grateful to Moscow, which has dispatched its astronauts to the ISS for nine years.
It also ensures that the price of the Soyuz is lower than that of American launchers. NASA paid $ 90 million [79 millions d’euros] per seat for the first, compared to $ 55 million [48,5 millions d’euros] for SpaceX. He also touted advances in the Russian space program … using seemingly outdated information and photos.
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