Another NASA astronaut has criticized the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, over his threats against the ISS and other outbursts.
Garrett Reisman was a long duration crew member on the International Space Station in 2008, arriving on Space Shuttle Endeavour, and visiting again in 2010 on Space Shuttle Atlantis. Since leaving NASA has has consulted for SpaceX.
The chain of astronaut comments started when Rogozin shared a video made by Roscosmos, showing UK and US flags being removed from a Soyuz rocket.
Another former astronaut, Scott Kelly, suggested that without international cooperation, Roscosmos wouldn’t exist, and Rogozin should get a job in McDonalds.
Rogozin has been in charge of the Russian space agency since 2018, converting into a corporation and putting a focus on income.
Reisman tweeted in reply to Kelly’s comments that ‘Rogozin has always been a fool.’
Adding: ‘Only now he actually mortally wounds Roscosmos and ends one of the few remaining sources of currency for Russia. Keep this in mind when your ATM is empty. It will need a trampoline soon.’
Rogozin has already blocked Kelly, after calling him a moron, but so far appears to have ignored the barbs from Reisman.
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has been blocked on Twitter by the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin (pictured), after the pair traded insults over sanctions
Garrett Reisman was a long duration crew member on the International Space Station in 2008, arriving on Space Shuttle Endeavour, and visiting again in 2010 on Space Shuttle Atlantis. Since leaving NASA has has consulted for SpaceX
The spat between US astronauts and the Russian agency boss has been going on since Russia troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 – sparking sanctions against Russia, including against its space program and industry.
Previous sanctions, including when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, excluded the space program, in a large part due to cooperation on the ISS.
Threatening the future of cooperation between US and Russia over the ISS has been a common theme from Rogozin – one of his first posts after sanctions were suggested was to hint Russia could withdraw from the program.
He said this would result in the station going into an uncontrolled deorbit, causing it to come down over Europe or the US.
This is because the station is split iinto two main parts, a US side that has responsibility for life support, and a Russian side that keeps it in orbit.
As well as suggesting the station could crash to the Earth, Rogozin shared a video, faked by Roscosmos, that seemed to show Russian cosmonauts on the ISS saying goodbye to their American counterparts.
Garrett Reisman: ‘Only now he actually mortally wounds Roscosmos and ends one of the few remaining sources of currency for Russia. Keep this in mind when your ATM is empty. It will need a trampoline soon’
Rogozin has always been something of a controversial figure, but the threat, and later implementation of sanctions against Russia’s space program caused him to become more vocal than usual
When asked about the future of the ISS without Russian, Reisman said: ‘Not many practical options there since despite the recent low-budget @Rogozin fantasy video, either side pulling out would basically result in the end of the ISS.’
He added another jab at the Russian space agency, saying ‘without the ISS, what is left for Roscosmos?’
Russia has previously hinted at the idea of launching its own space station in 2025, possibly taking some of the newer modules from the ISS.
NASA has also announced it will deorbit the ISS in 2031, sending it down in a controlled manner to burn up int he atmosphere, with whats left landing in the South Pacific Ocean, near a remote area called Point Nemo.
Kelly was one of the first former NASA astronauts to speak out against the invasion.
So far, official lines from NASA have talked about the continuation of cooperation with Russia over the ISS, including returning astronaut Mark Mark Vande Hei on a Soyuz rocket on March 30.
‘If he’s going to act like a child, then I’m going to treat him like one,’ Kelly said in an interview with CNN, adding ‘it’s just unimaginable that the Russian space program would leave a person behind in space that they were responsible for bringing home. I don’t see that happening.’
He later retracted that, saying he never expected Russia would bomb its neighbour and that happened.
There are four astronauts from NASA on the ISS, two from Russia and one sent by the European Space Agency.
The European and three of the NASA astronauts travelled on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, the Russians and Vande Hei arrived on a Soyuz spacecraft.
‘If I was him, I would feel like I’m just going to keep doing my job,’ Kelly said. ‘And if they (Roscosmos) want to leave me up here, then I’ll find another way home.’
The prospect of a longer stay will be daunting for Vande Hei, who will have been on the station for 355 consecutive days by March 30, beating the US record held by Scott Kelly, who was on board for 340 days.
His flight home would have marked the final use of the Russian Soyuz by NASA astronauts, as the space agency has now bet its future launches on the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
There have been calls for the upcoming fully commercial space launch Ax-1, operated by Axiom Space using a SpaceX Crew Dragon, to launch one person light when it travels to the ISS next month.
So far neither Axiom or SpaceX have said whether that will happen.
NASA told DailyMail.Com that cooperation continues with Roscosmos over the ISS.
Scott Kelly has become a vocal critic of the Russian invasion, regularly tweeting leading figures in the country, and showing his support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he has his ‘utmost respect’
‘Ongoing station operations continue as normal including work to fly crew to the orbital outpost and to return them safely to Earth.
‘On March 30, a Soyuz spacecraft will return as scheduled carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov back to Earth. Upon their return, Vande Hei will hold the American record for the longest single human spaceflight mission of 355 days.’
‘We are not getting any indications at a working level that our counterparts are not committed to ongoing operation on the International Space Station,’ said NASA’s Kathy Lueders, when asked about cooperation in space.
