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Russian space agency mocks Trump's 'hysteria' over SpaceX launch, says it should've happened 'a long time ago'

Though Roscosmos lauded the successful launch of the SpaceX rocket, they were rather amused by Trump's enthusiasm
UPDATED JUN 1, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

President Donald Trump is never shy of celebrating moments of nationalistic feats and it was seen one more time on Saturday, May 30, after the successful launch of the SpaceX rocket from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. He said the US regained its position as the "world leader" in space with the launch. He said a country couldn’t be No.1 on earth if it was No.2 in space and asserted that the US eyes to be the leader in all spheres. 

Russia, however, thought differently and even mocked Trump's praise of the mission as "hysteria". Vladimir Ustimenko, a spokesperson for Russian space agency Roscosmos, took a dig at the US on Twitter after two American astronauts were launched aboard the SpaceX craft bound for the International Space Station, besides ridiculing the president. His first tweet was: "Trump after the launch of Crew Dragon: 'You cannot be number one on Earth, if you are - number two in space. And we will not be number two anywhere. The United States regained the prestige of a world leader in space. The first woman on the moon will be an American, and the first country on Mars will be the United States." He then followed this with, "The hysteria that arose after the successful launch of the Crew Dragon ship is not very clear." Ustimenko added: "What happened was to happen a long time ago. Now, not only Russians will fly to the ISS, but also Americans. So that's great!"

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on May 27, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Florida (Getty Images)

Although the US and erstwhile USSR, which Russia replaced in the early 1990s, had been two fierce space competitors in the Cold War era, NASA has relied on Roscosmos to transport US astronauts to the ISS since its final space shuttle flight in 2011. The US has been working on reducing its dependence on Roscosmos by working with SpaceX and Boeing for transport into space. NASA had relied on Roscosmos to transport American astronauts to the ISS since the US space agency's final space shuttle flight in 2011. Since then, the US has been working with SpaceX and Boeing to end its reliance on Russia for transport into space.

On May 30, SpaceX — owned by Elon Musk — successfully launched the astronauts from the same launchpad which had served as the launch point for the historic Apollo spacecraft and other space shuttle missions. The Crew Dragon attached to the Falcon 9 rocket took off at 3.22 pm after a previous launch was scrapped on Wednesday, May 27, because of poor weather conditions.

US, Russia will maintain good relation in space affairs: NASA

After the Crew Dragon launch, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said that NASA and Roscosmos would maintain their positive relation in the days to come, Newsweek reported. "They (Roscosmos) believe in the partnership and so I think it's going to remain strong," Bridenstine said.

On May 30, Trump, who is facing a backlash over high coronavirus deaths in the US and the ongoing protests over the brutal killing of George Floyd, said: "Today, the groundbreaking partnership between NASA and SpaceX has given our nation the gift of an unmatched power — a state-of-the-art spaceship to put our astronauts into orbit at a fraction of the cost of the space shuttle. And it's much better." He also said the two astronauts — Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53, joined "the ranks of just seven prior American astronauts who have made the perilous maiden voyage to test a new class of spacecraft". "From now on, the United States will leverage the fast-growing capabilities of our commercial sector and the finest pieces of real estate on Earth, which you need very badly, to send US astronauts into space," the president, who set up a space force last December, said, adding: "Today’s launch makes clear that the commercial space industry is the future."

In 1957, the former USSR became the first nation to send a man-made satellite (Sputnik 1) into outer space. In 1961, they sent the first human — Yuri Gagarin — into space to orbit the earth. Alan Shepard became the first American to fly into space just 23 days after Gagarin although the first American satellite Explorer 1 was launched into space in 1958. Although Russia initially led the space race, the US became the first nation to land a man on the moon in 1969.

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