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billvon

Now THIS is how you troll someone

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Rogozin, the head of the Russian space program, has been somewhat anti-US for most of his tenure.  He would frequently mock SpaceX's progress (or lack thereof) in terms of reusable rockets and later manned launches of Space Station astronauts,   He once tweeted that perhaps the US could "bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline!" suggesting that he would refuse to fly Americans to the ISS in the wake of sanctions (and also suggesting that SpaceX would ultimately fail.)

He has gotten worse.  He has threatened to let the ISS's orbit deteriorate so that it would re-enter the atmosphere. "If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an unguided deorbit to impact on the territory of the U.S. or Europe?"  This is relevant because the ISS's "main engines" are on the Zvezda module, which is under Russian control.  (Recently a Cygnus cargo module docked that has this capability as well, so the ISS is no longer dependent on Russian cooperation for reboost.)

It's clear Rogozin is angry at the US for participating in sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Afghanistan.  And yet on board the ISS astronauts are still working together.  You have to wonder what they are talking about up there, and whether the cosmonauts are annoyed at Rogozin for making so much of their work political.

This week an ISS crew took off from Russia and docked at the ISS.  When they took off they had the standard blue and red jumpsuits on.  When they arrived at the ISS they had yellow and blue jumpsuits on (which, of course, are the colors of the Ukranian flag.)  When one of the cosmonauts was asked about it they said "We actually had a lot of yellow material, so we had to use it."

Now THAT is a good troll.

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On 3/19/2022 at 3:32 PM, billvon said:

Rogozin, the head of the Russian space program, ... When one of the cosmonauts was asked about it they said "We actually had a lot of yellow material, so we had to use it."

Now THAT is a good troll.

Well it could also mean that the days of Russian cosmonauts is coming to an end.

ESA Suspends ExoMars Mission, Ends Cooperation with Russia "Instead, the ESA will undertake a study to determine how it can launch ExoMars without Russia."

Russia’s Loss of Rocket Launch Business Becomes SpaceX’s Gain "OneWeb, a British satellite internet company, turned to SpaceX’s rockets after canceling launches with Russia’s Soyuz vehicle over the invasion of Ukraine." One web is a direct competitor to Elon's 10,000 satellite space based web service.

Russia says it will no longer sell rocket engines to the United States  "ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, uses Russia’s RD-180 engine to power its workhorse Atlas V rocket, " "Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, which uses NPO Energomash’s RD-181 engine"

Elon is rumored to say that he'll launch everything cancelled on a single Starship flight. While the value of SpaceX jumped $1 trillion overnight.

Between SpaceX and skyrocketing EV sales. Elon is very happy.

 

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I heard an unconfirmed rumor today (supposedly from someone in Russia close to their space agency) that makes a little more sense.

The yellow and blue jumpsuits were intended to be a shout-out to the world that Russia had taken over the Ukraine and they were now part of Russia - hence a (smallish) Russian flag on a large yellow and blue jumpsuit.  Then the invasion didn't go as well as expected, and the jumpsuits were sort of forgotten about - until they appeared on the ISS and sent a very different message from the one intended.

Which would make it more of a self-troll.  Which would be even better.

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4 hours ago, billvon said:

I heard an unconfirmed rumor today (supposedly from someone in Russia close to their space agency) that makes a little more sense.

Or it could simply be the colors of Bauman Moscow State Technical University. 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/03/20/russian-cosmonauts-yellow-suits-are-not-inspired-ukrainian-flag.html 

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4 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Or it could simply be the colors of Bauman Moscow State Technical University. 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/03/20/russian-cosmonauts-yellow-suits-are-not-inspired-ukrainian-flag.html 

I heard that as well. There was another report where the suits are packed away months in advance. Therefore coincidence.

These cosmonauts aren't stupid people. IMO Bill's reference is most believable. Especially given that the several sources attributed the "yellow material" statement to the Cosmonauts themselves. One a Russian source.

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