Russia’s space leader seems pretty bitter about SpaceX’s success

Enlarge / Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin visits the control center for a launch pad for the Soyuz-2 carrier rockets at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. (credit: Yegor AleyevTASS via Getty Images)

In the 10 days since SpaceX launched humans into orbit-returning to NASA the capability to get its own astronauts into space-Russian officials have offered a mixed reaction. However, a clear trend seems to be emerging-a minimization of SpaceX's achievement and pointing to Russia's own bright future in space.

During a post-launch news conference on May 30, SpaceX founder Elon Musk cheekily said, "The trampoline is working." This was a dig at the head of the Russian Space Corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, a former Russian defense official who was sanctioned in 2014 as part of the US response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine. At the time, when the US relied on the Russian Soyuz vehicle to get into space, Rogozin suggested on Twitter that NASA could use a trampoline to get into space if it didn't like working with Russia.

After Musk's most recent comments, Rogozin initially went along with the joke, saying he was amused by it: "Please convey my sincere greetings to @elonmusk (I loved his joke) and @SpaceX team. Looking forward to further cooperation!"

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