Photo: YouTube / SpaceX
As Russia continues its violent invasion of neighboring country Ukraine, no-longer-veiled threats against the United States and NATO members are coming from all sides. The International Space Station (ISS) and whatever agreements Russia had with other countries for space exploration are also subject to them.
On March 3, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin announced that Russia would no longer supply rocket engines to the United States, or offer service and maintenance to those already delivered. As per an ongoing agreement, Russia delivered 122 RD-180 engines to the U.S. since ‘90s, of which 98 were used to power NASA launch vehicles, and 24 were still in use.
Rogozin went on state television to say that the U.S. would not be getting any more rocket engines and that those 24 were now officially without service, Reuters reports. The announcement came as response to the decision to impose sanctions against Russia for the Ukraine invasion, Rogozin added, and it would leave Americans without a means to get to space.
“In a situation like this we can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what,” he said.
A few years ago, Rogozin told the national media that Americans would have to use trampolines to launch themselves into space if it were not for Russian tech, so a flying broomstick would be a step forward either way. As luck would have it, Elon Musk has just the perfect kind of flying, American-made broomstick and, no, he didn’t steal it from a witch.
The SpaceX CEO is clearly keeping very close tabs on the Ukraine crisis, and how it has already and could further impact space exploration. After previously saying he would “save” the ISS should Russia decide to stop powering it and just let it drop from space onto whatever piece of land they wanted, Musk is now offering his very own broomstick as a good replacement for Russian rocket engines.
“American Broomsticks,” Musk tweeted, adding a video of Falcon 9 launching 47 Starlink satellites into orbit.
SpaceX is already a partner for NASA, but Musk is determined to show that it could successfully substitute for Russia in every aspect used by Roscosmos and Rogozin as some sort of leverage against the U.S.
Rogozin went on state television to say that the U.S. would not be getting any more rocket engines and that those 24 were now officially without service, Reuters reports. The announcement came as response to the decision to impose sanctions against Russia for the Ukraine invasion, Rogozin added, and it would leave Americans without a means to get to space.
“In a situation like this we can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what,” he said.
A few years ago, Rogozin told the national media that Americans would have to use trampolines to launch themselves into space if it were not for Russian tech, so a flying broomstick would be a step forward either way. As luck would have it, Elon Musk has just the perfect kind of flying, American-made broomstick and, no, he didn’t steal it from a witch.
The SpaceX CEO is clearly keeping very close tabs on the Ukraine crisis, and how it has already and could further impact space exploration. After previously saying he would “save” the ISS should Russia decide to stop powering it and just let it drop from space onto whatever piece of land they wanted, Musk is now offering his very own broomstick as a good replacement for Russian rocket engines.
“American Broomsticks,” Musk tweeted, adding a video of Falcon 9 launching 47 Starlink satellites into orbit.
SpaceX is already a partner for NASA, but Musk is determined to show that it could successfully substitute for Russia in every aspect used by Roscosmos and Rogozin as some sort of leverage against the U.S.
???????????????? American Broomstick ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/r2hJvFQosS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
Google News