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SpaceX: ROCOSMOS head claims Elon Musk's space firm cannot compare to Russian agency

SpaceX - Imagery / Pixabay

Elon Musk’s space agency SpaceX is already in the midst of planning its upcoming space missions but is still fairly new in the space exploration scene. As the firm continues its rocket testing, Russia’s space agency ROCOSMOS took a little swipe at Musk’s firm, saying that it cannot compare to its achievements.

The head of ROCOSMOS, Dmitry Rogozin, weighed in on the recent tests being done by SpaceX in preparation for their upcoming missions. Noting that Musk’s agency does its testing at its base at Boca Chica, South Texas, Rogozin took a swipe at the privately-owned firm. The ROCOSMOS head took to Facebook to say that SpaceX will not be able to do what ROCOSMOS does.

“This is not Boca Chica. This is Yakutia, and in winter,” said Rogozin. “The 2 OneWeb 42 mission security management calculation was deployed two days before yesterday’s launch. Temperature - minus 52C. Temperature restrictions on launches for the Union-2 - minus 40 degrees. Yesterday it was about 30 degrees - not serious. I wonder if gentle SpaceX is able to work with such conditions? But I don’t care about Russians. We are used to frost…”

However, there are users that pointed out in response to Rogozin that SpaceX reuses its rockets, ROCOSMOS does not. This is the latest swipe taken by Rogozin at the US-based agency. Back in 2014, Rogozin said that the US may as well transport its astronauts to the International Space Station with the use of a trampoline, noting how the US has had to rely on the Russian agency since 2011 to transport its astronauts to the ISS.

Previously, SpaceX’s last mission of the year was deemed a great success in sending a satellite into orbit. The mission was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, December 17, but had to be postponed for two days due to unfavorable weather conditions. By December 19, the weather was good for launching at the Kennedy Space Center. The mission is known as NROL-108, where a confidential satellite was transported to orbit with the Falcon 9 rocket. A little after liftoff, the rocket’s booster separated when it approached near-orbit, the satellite continuing on its journey.

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