Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk took another jibe at Russia's space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin on Twitter after the billionaire entrepreneur's SpaceX successfully launched 47 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit on Thursday.
What Happened: A Reuters report on Thursday quoted Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, saying Russia had decided to halt supplying rocket engines to the United States in retaliation for its sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.
"Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what," Rogozin said on state television, according to the report.
SpaceX later that day launched the Starlink satellites from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, its eleventh such flight for the Falcon 9’s first stage booster supporting this mission.
Musk took to Twitter, replying to SpaceX's post about the launch with a screenshot of the media report highlighting Rogozin's quote, and accompanying text saying "American Broomstick".
�� American Broomstick �� pic.twitter.com/r2hJvFQosS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
This is the second time this week that the world’s richest man has taken a swipe at Rogozin, who previously alleged that Musk took Ukraine's side amid the ongoing war after he ensured Starlink services were available in the country.
Why It Matters: The relationship between U.S. space agency NASA and SpaceX has grown in recent years. The Musk-led company is due to launch three more commercial crew flights to the International Space Station as part of its contract with NASA.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket, which has shown to bring down costs significantly.
Starlink’s constellation of networked satellites beams down high-speed internet services, especially in remote areas or places hit by war or a natural calamity.
Musk last year had said Starlink services would be launched in 14 countries and was awaiting licenses in several more.
Photo by JD Lasica on Wikimedia
