RSC Energia Chief Questions Schedule for Elon Musk’s Moon Plan
SpaceX Crew Dragon Weldment Structure (Credit: SpaceX)
The head of Russia’s most prominent spaceflight company questioned whether Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be able to launch people around the moon next year and said Russia plans to revive tourism flights to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2020.
“As for the state of affairs specifically at Elon Musk’s company, it would be difficult to carry out such a mission in 2018, and even in 2020,” Vladimir Solntsev, general director of RSC Energia, the primary contractor for Russia’s human spaceflight program, said in a wide-ranging Q&A with the Russian news agency TASS.
Read the rest of my Space.com story here.
17 responses to “RSC Energia Chief Questions Schedule for Elon Musk’s Moon Plan”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I wonder if Russians get introduced to how to perform talking points in a formalized manner. It always starts with a kernel of truth, and then goes off into “Stalin in Wonderland” territory. His doubts about Space X making the 50th anni of Apollo 8 are the more than reasonable appetizer. But to pretend that there’s no launch vehicle in sight is that first step into a world that is uniquely Russian in it’s ability to divert light rays from objects right in front of you. Then the deep step, to imply that the Russians don’t suffer from the very same delays, over-statements, and flat out failures that Space X suffers from. Or to claim they’ll have the Federation program online by 2024! That’s only 7 years away, everyone these days is taking a decade plus to get their capsules going. It’s like the time I had some Russians complain to me that they did not like the US because the winters in North Dakota were harsh. They’re a whacky crew, loveable, wonderfully brooding, intensely sad, but whacky. I love them.
Russian communication gets propaganda class.
Same as those that work at RT, current white house, VOA, Fox news, etc.
…CNN, MSNBC, random newspapers, NPR, etc.
Truth may not be dead, but it is irrelevant. Now there is only bias and spin. Interpret wisely.
Yawn. The WaPo, NYT subscriber-ship numbers are both up while Fox News falls behind both CNN and MSNBC (actual news channels). Turns out the American people don’t really enjoy pro-Russia/Trump propaganda being rammed down their throats by traitors.
And, oh look, the first step in Trump’s impeachment and eventual arrest has been taken…..
https://www.nytimes.com/201…
Always good to hear from the lunatic fringe. Thanks.
Been hittin’ the wacky terbacky again, have you?
Re: Fox News ratings.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/0…
You’re welcome.
While removal from office is a real possibility, I doubt that Trump will ever be imprisoned. That would be an unfortunate precedent and a blow to the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. I would expect to see a blanket preemptive pardon issued by his successor to shutdown any efforts at criminal prosecution. Civil actions might be allowed to proceed. I expect Mueller and the NY AG to uncover a whole lot of Russian money laundering.
Baseless braggadocio along with self-importance, bluster and aggression seem to comprise the essential Russian character. I don’t love them. It is good that they are fading from the world scene. No one will miss them when they’re gone.
What do you expect the man to say? Every time they face a mike – they, Ariane, the Chinese, et al – they get asked about SpaceX. What a nuisance they must think Musk is.
Once NASA stops paying for crew flights and commercial launch has all the capacity it could need from SpaceX (Multiple Pads), Arianespace, Blue and ULA (Backup plan), they are dead in the water. The Russian space program will be in such a hurt locker Dmitry Rogozin will be at Cosco looking for a deal on trampolines.
I LOLed.
However, Energia probably (almost assuredly) has profit margin to spare and costs and efficiency they haven’t even thought of (’cause they don’t have to) yet.
Not paying your workers is a good one, although they already figured that out.
It’s sad to see what happened to Russian Space.
I don’t see the Russians having too many issues selling seats on those future flights to the ISS. And it just could be that the rest of the world looks at how many times the first flights of FH and crew Dragon have been delayed. There is no confidence in their ability to fly crew to LEO in 2018, let alone on a trip around the moon. The Russians are just correctly stating that the same Dragon capsule that goes to the ISS might not have enough shielding, life support, power for a trip around the moon. That means finally finishing one design, before moving onto the next. If the LEO Dragon isn’t ready for crew until 2019, is the moon possible in 2020 ?
He ought to know. The Russian space program is notorious for late projects due to under funding by the Russian government.
>Nostradamus on a space news website