Russian Space Chief Threatens To Let International Space Station Crash Into The United States, Inspiring Reaction Memes On Social Media

In a lengthy Twitter thread today, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian Space Administration, seemed to suggest that he would "allow" the International Space Station to fall to Earth and crash in the United States unless the U.S. and its allies stop sanctions against Russia related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Currently, there are four American astronauts, one German and two Russians aboard the ISS.

Hours later, Rogozin walked back his remarks, tweeting “our concerns have been heard” after NASA stated that cooperation onboard the ISS will continue despite the changing geopolitical climate. But that didn’t stop people on the internet from posting a barrage of memes and commentary about the situation and the presumed vibe onboard the station.

Как говорят дипломаты, "наши озабоченности услышаны". NASA</a> подтвердило свою готовность и дальше сотрудничать с <a href="https://twitter.com/roscosmos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">roscosmos по #МКС. Тем временем, продолжаем анализировать новые санкции США для детализации нашего ответа.

— РОГОЗИН (@Rogozin) February 25, 2022

how i imagine the international space station is atm pic.twitter.com/cky9cWuxQK

— prof. trilla MD (@hotmeaty2k) February 24, 2022

pic.twitter.com/ckNlGP7OC5

— Aki Mio (@Albile_DMC) February 25, 2022

We go live to the International Space Station pic.twitter.com/RPFsmVh3fJ

— Carry On Strategy (@CarryStrategy) February 24, 2022

Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, also joined the tweetstorm, countering Rogozin’s statements and insulting the quality of the International Space Station’s facilities on the "Russian side" while adding that the Russians should be replaced with "Ukrainian cosmonauts."

Time to replace the Russians on the International Space Station. Kick them out of the program, train up some Ukrainian cosmonauts, and see if @elonmusk can replace the Russian half of the station with something that’s not falling apart.

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) February 25, 2022

Rogozin has maintained a colorful Twitter presence for many years. In the past, he deleted his account, only to rejoin the social network later on. In 2020, Rogozin (who at that point was not on Twitter) allegedly engaged in a highly publicized Twitter beef with Russian cosmonauts who had compared the Russian space program unfavorably to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It was reported by some that Rogozin logged onto the Twitter account of a robot named Fedor, sent to the ISS by Russia, and posted as the bot accusing those cosmonauts of being drunk on board the space station.

Слов нет, всё видите сами. pic.twitter.com/EYjDTe5LeP

— Макс Сураев (@Msuraev) October 7, 2020

The account of the robot Fedor,which is apparently led by Rogozin, was blocked on Twitter after insulting the astronauts.The director of Roscosmos, through a dummy account, began accusing the astronauts of drunkenness on the ISS, after one of them (Suraev) began to criticize him. pic.twitter.com/ShpeYEXIbt

— AlmostSoberRussian (@SoberAlmost) October 11, 2020

While the International Space Station does not appear to be "falling out of the sky" anytime soon, nor the source of any conflict related to the situation in Ukraine, many on Twitter find that the posts of Dmitry Rogozin add a whole new level of weirdness to 2022 — inspiring numerous memes alongside the story.