Here’s why Russia’s space chief keeps asking Elon Musk to visit him

Enlarge / Yulia Peresild will play the lead role in the Russian space film The Challenge. (credit: Roscosmos)

The leader of Russia's space program is desperate to have Elon Musk visit him. On multiple occasions, Dmitry Rogozin has invited the founder of SpaceX to come to Kazakhstan for the October 5 launch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft carrying three Russians to the International Space Station.

More recently, during an interview on CNN, Rogozin gained a fair amount of publicity when he invited Musk to visit his home in Russia.

"We respect him as an organizer of the space industry and as an inventor who is not afraid to take risks," Rogozin said. Musk was welcomed "to be a guest of my family" and discuss "exploring the universe, extraterrestrial life, and how we can use space to preserve life on Earth."

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