Russian Space Chief Threatens To Abandon American Astronaut Aboard The International Space Station, Sending Many Memes And A Feud With Scott Kelly Into Orbit

Russian Space Chief Dmitry Rogozin threatened today that Russian cosmonauts leaving the International Space Station would abandon an American astronaut in the satellite, leading to a viral Twitter feud with American astronaut Scott Kelly and sending a variety of memes into orbit. Rogozin previously threatened to let the ISS crash into the United States and has on many occasions garnered attention for his active social media presence.

Russia is threatening to leave US astronaut Mark Vande Hei behind on the International Space Station.

He is scheduled to return to earth with 2 cosmonauts after a year in space on a Russian ship in 3 weeks. pic.twitter.com/pKBTjxauP0

— Popitics (@Popitics1) March 11, 2022

Russia threatens to abandon American astronaut in space as tensions on Earth threaten peace on the ISS https://t.co/qeLtilWRb2

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) March 11, 2022

In a series of now-deleted Tweets, Rogozin and Kelly engaged in a war of words, with Rogozin calling Kelly a “moron” and Kelly calling Rogozin a “child.” Later, Kelly posted a picture comparing the relative sizes of American and Russian rockets.

Here is an interesting graphic comparing the size of the NASA SLS to the Russian Soyuz. https://t.co/LyB3i0CbJ2 pic.twitter.com/gu2T4wOsls

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) March 11, 2022

Others online speculated about the vibe on board the International Space Station, like they did when Rogozin threatened to let it fall on the U.S.

Astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station right now pic.twitter.com/IXuxpASgVZ

— Ryan L. Nave (@rlnave) March 11, 2022

Russian cosmonauts looking at American astronauts inside the international space station right now. pic.twitter.com/OfmUoNE86w

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 4, 2022

Some users brainstormed solutions for the problem, proposing that spacefaring American billionaires like Elon Musk could help resolve the situation.

Yoo-hoo!@elonmusk!

Putin is threatening to strand United States astronaut, Mark Vande Hei at the International Space Station.

Can you pick him up? https://t.co/onchf66WiD

— ❤️🧡💛ᗰia💚💙💜 (@mommamia1217) March 11, 2022

Not only are geopolitical tensions from Russia's war in Ukraine spilling over onto the ISS, but the Russian export of rocket parts has also stopped, with Dmitry Rogozin declaring that the Americans will have to “fly on their brooms” instead.

Dmitry Rogozin to Russia24: In response to the sanctions, Roscosmos will no longer supply rocket engines to the United States. "Let them fly on their brooms," he said. (RIA) pic.twitter.com/pZa1MPp725

— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) March 3, 2022

The future of Russo-American cooperation in space has been thrown into doubt, and it remains to be seen what the long-term consequences will be. But expect Dmitry Rogozin to keep on producing meme-worthy statements, as he has done consistently over the past few weeks