Crisis Averted
The US Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown with the passage of a bipartisan funding bill, but the process laid bare the persistent challenges of governance in an era of heightened partisanship and external influences.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, has invited SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to his home to discuss efforts to explore the universe and whether there’s life on other planets.
In his first interview with CNN, Rogozin appreciated the efforts of Musk in the field of space.
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“Mr. Elon Musk realises many of the ideas and thoughts that we wanted to realise but did not get to because, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, our space program halted for some time,” Rogozin said.
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“We respect him as an organizer of the space industry and as an inventor, who is not afraid to take risks.”
Responding to Rogozin’s offer on Twitter, Musk said “thanks” and asked, “what is your favourite tea?”, to which the Russian space chief replied that they could “start with my grandmother’s favourite” blend, posting a picture of a box of ‘Three Friendly Elephants’ loose-leaf tea.
Rogozin took office as Roscosmos’ Director-General in May 2018, succeeding Igor Komarov.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is all set to launch to orbit its first all-civilian mission ‘Inspiration4’ on September 15.
“#Inspiration4 and @SpaceX have completed our flight readiness review and remain on track for launch!” the Inspiration4 mission team said in a tweet recently.
Our #Inspiration4 crew has completed astronaut training at @SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, CA and is en route to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final preparations and launch! pic.twitter.com/gyuScbybgc
— Inspiration4 (@inspiration4x) September 9, 2021
Early this year in February, SpaceX announced the charity-driven mission named Inspiration4, which will be commanded by tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and will have three others.
They will orbit the planet aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule every 90 minutes along a customised flight path.
Upon conclusion of the three-day journey, Dragon will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for soft water landing off the coast of Florida.
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