Russian space chief invites Elon Musk to his home to discuss space exploration, preserving life on Earth and extraterrestrial life
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, is inviting SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to his home to discuss a myriad of topics, including exploring the universe and extraterrestrial life.
'Mr. Elon Musk realizes many of the ideas and thoughts that we wanted to realize, but did not get to because, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, our space program halted for some time,' Rogozin said in an interview with CNN, his first with a western media outlet since taking over the agency.
'We respect him as an organizer of the space industry and as an inventor, who is not afraid to take risk.'
Dmitry Rogozin is inviting Elon Musk to his home to discuss a myriad of topics, including exploring the universe and extraterrestrial life
Rogozin added in the interview that he will invite Musk to his Russian home to discuss 'exploring the universe, extraterrestrial life, and how we can use space to preserve life on Earth.'
'I already set the teakettle on heat,' Rogozin said.
Musk responded, tweeting at Rogozin, asking him what his favorite kind of tea is.
Musk responded, tweeting at Rogozin, asking him what his favorite kind of tea is
Rogozin said he envies what Musk as well as Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic's Sir Richard Branson are doing with their respective companies and space tourism.
'I like what your people are doing — people who spend their own money on things useful for overall society,' Rogozin said.
He added that he wished Russian oligarchs would take up an interest in space.
'Our millionaires prefer to invest more in yachts rather than in spaceships,' Rogozin, Roscosmos' director general said.
'But maybe kids of current Russian millionaires will be much more wise creatures.'
No date has been set yet and Musk and Rogozin have not yet responded to requests for comment.
The interview comes just days after Musk and SpaceX showed off new images of the glass dome that astronauts on the upcoming Inspiration4 mission will be able to view space from.
Unlike the flights that Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos took earlier this summer, this flight from Musk's SpaceX will go into orbit.
It is aiming for an altitude of 335 miles, 75 miles higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope.
SpaceX's other Dragon capsules have docking capabilities at the top of the nose cone to allow it to merge with the ISS.
On July 11, Branson flew 53.5 miles above the Earth's surface on Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity craft.
Nine days later, Bezos joined the club, flying 66 miles high in a 10 minute trip that took off from Launch Site One in Van Horn, Texas.
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