Russia's space chief was inviting Elon Musk to dinner and praising him 6 months ago. Now, they're hurling insults and trolling each other

Russia's space chief took aim at the SpaceX CEO after he challenged Putin to a single combat.

It would only be a waste if Musk was too weak to compete with him. Take my brother first.

Alexander Pushkin, a Russian poet known for disguising political messages in his stories and who was exiled from the country due to the themes in his writing, was quoted in a 17th-century fairy tale.

It is not the first time the Russian space chief has sparred with Musk on social media. Since Russia began invading Ukraine, the two have traded insults.

Musk responded with a series of jokes. They should form a book club, and he quoted a novel by Dostoyevsky.

According to Insider's translation, a fool with a heart and no mind is just as unfortunate a fool as a fool with a mind without a heart.

In a pay-per-view match, Musk cast Putin and himself as fighters.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2022

According to a translation of the reply, "Elon, get off the toilet, then we'll talk."

—РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) March 15, 2022

Six months ago, he was a fan of Musk. In September, the Russian space chief invited Musk to be a guest of his family and said he already set the thermostat on heat.

After the break up of the Soviet Union, our space program stopped and Mr. Musk realized many of the ideas and thoughts that we wanted to realize.

At the time, Rogozin said he wanted Russian billionaires to follow in the footsteps of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. He invited Musk, Bezos and Branson to a launch.

Millionaires prefer to invest in yachts rather than spaceships, according to CNN.

In the past, Rogozin has questioned whether or not Roscosmos is tougher than SpaceX. In 2020, he shared photos of specialists recovering a piece of a rocket in the snow.

According to a translation from CNN, "This is not Boca Chica, it's Yakutia in winter." I wonder if gentle SpaceX is able to work in those conditions.

The International Space Station has a need for Russian techniques that can be filled by the company.

NASA no longer depended on Russian rockets in 2020 and the Russian government lost billions of dollars as the space agency launched astronauts from US soil for the first time in a decade.

The US could use broomsticks to fly to space after Russia said it would no longer supply rocket engines. The space chief threatened to cut off Russia's support to the International Space Station and send it plunging to Earth in March. The space chief said the US could use gunpowder to send astronauts to the International Space Station.

In each situation, Musk has used his position to suggest that SpaceX was an alternative solution, from giving Starlink to citizens in Ukraine to suggesting that it was America's broomstick.

Despite the comments online, NASA and Roscosmos are still working together.

The translations are by Oleksandr Vynogradov.