The Russian space agency Roscosmos has issue a rather terse, subtly understated, and rather tongue-in-cheek response to Donald Trump's usual over-the-top bluster after the belated SpaceX launch of US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
Never one prone to understatement, Trump swaggered that, "The United States has regained our place of prestige as the world leader" in space, congratulated SpaceX boss Elon Musk on the "beautiful sight" as the rocket finally launched, vowed that the US would soon have "the greatest weapons ever imagined in history" (which is something of a quantum leap and non sequitur from a space shuttle launch), and praised the American spirit that has "helped lift our country to ever greater heights of justice and opportunity".
The latter was particularly ironic in a country roiled by violent protests and riots after the police killing of George Floyd, and mired in the depths of an embarrassing and poorly-managed pandemic response. "You can't be number one on earth if you are number two in space ... we are not going to be number two anywhere", Trump continued, oblivious to any irony. The USA is certainly number one in virus deaths and race riot outbreaks.
For their part, Roscosmos, which has been ferrying astronauts (including American astronauts) back and forth to the ISS for decades now, deadpanned that, "The hysteria raised after the successful launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is hard to understand ... What has happened should have happened long ago", adding that, "Now it's not only the Russians flying to the ISS, but also the Americans. Well, that's wonderful!"
Now, I'm no fan of Russia, but the difference in class between the two reactions is quite palpable.
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