While it may have been a calculated move to try and force international acceptance for his long time ally, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s decision to appoint him as head of the space agency/industrial complex Roscosmos has apparently not managed to secure Rogozin’s passage to USA. In his previous role as Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin had been “sanctioned” by many Western nations after the annexation of Ukranian territory (the Crimea) by Russia. As such, in his new role as Roscosmos head – technically a partial demotion – Rogozin was thus not able to travel to attend the traditional meeting of the World’s space agency heads at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany, in early October. Nevertheless, Rogozin and his US counterpart NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine were at least able to meet a few weeks later in Kazakhstan where they met for the launch of the ill fated Soyuz MS-10 to discuss the future of the International Space Station (ISS).
Jim Bridenstine and Dmitry Rogozin during their past more friendly meeting. Courtesy: NASA/Bill Ingalls
However, after questioning from Space News, NASA has revealed that the planned “rematch” meeting between the two in USA during February has now been called off. The cancelled trip was to have included a visit to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA had been under pressure to do so from the US Senate, although the Treasury department was said to be in favour of it.
Update on 28 January 2019: Rogozin and Bridenstine have apparently got friendlier relations between each other than their respective national governments have and have since reportedly had a phone call together.
