Roscosmos chief Dmitriy Rogozin congratulated Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson after his successful flight to 50 miles on Sunday.
Dmitry Rogozin, the leader of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, congratulated Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson after his successful flight to 50 miles on Sunday. On Twitter, Rogozin called Branson’s flight a landmark achievement in space travel. He even went as far as decrying Russia’s “billionaire oligarchs” in a followup tweet, saying they’d rather spend money on yachts than developing spacecraft. The sentiment even got a reaction out of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who replied with a pair of hand clapping emojis. It was a back-handed compliment, as Rogozin also pointed out that suborbital flight — Branson didn’t technically reach space — “has nothing to do with professional astronautics.” All told, it was a rare outburst coming from a man who has repeatedly butted heads with NASA and Musk, as Ars Technica points out.
