Russian Space Chief Dmitry Rogozin Sacked After Trolling Elon Musk

The head of the Russian space agency; Dmitry Rogozin, known for frequent online skirmishes with SpaceX boss Elon Musk, has been fired from his job, Kremlin revealed on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has tagged former deputy prime minister Yuri Borisov to replace Rogozin as head of Roscosmos. The Kremlin gave no reason for its decision to replace Rogozin, who had headed the Russian space agency since 2018.

Rogozin’s extract happened the same day that NASA and Roscosmos agreed to a new deal to cooperate on International Space Station missions, despite ongoing tensions over the Kremlin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Public disputes between Belikoz Rogozin and Musk have intensified since the Russian offensive began in late February. Rogozin raised concerns earlier this year when he oddly suggested that the International Space Station could fall from the sky if Russia withdrew its cooperation.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit and fall into the United States or Europe?” Rogozin tweeted in Russian, in accordance with a translation.

Musk replied to Rogozin’s thread with an image of the SpaceX logo – and later confirmed that his personal space agency was ready to help operations on the ISS.

Later, Rogozin ripped Musk for aiding Ukraine by offering “Starlink” satellite tv for pc web terminals through the invasion regardless of SpaceX’s standing as a civilian agency – asserting that the billionaire had “chosen his side” within the conflict.

Musk responded cleverly that SpaceX only offered its help after Ukrainian citizens experienced a “strange” Internet outage.

SpaceX also trolled Rogozin during the launch in March, when he said NASA could lose access to the Russian “world’s best rocket engine” — adding the US would have to fly “something more like their broom.”

A staunch Putin ally, Rogozin has also frequently touted Russia’s nuclear attack capabilities during the Ukraine war and once declared that cooperation with Western authorities was “impossible”, according to Reuters.

The Kremlin said Rogozin would get a new role, according to Russian state media – but it’s not clear what his next gig will be.

Musk has yet to comment publicly on Rogozin’s exit.