Former NASA astronaut and Worldwide House Station (ISS) commander Scott Kelly referred to as the pinnacle of Russia's area company "a shameful stain" on the legacy of the Russian area program after he posted an aggressive warning to the West.

Over the weekend, Dmitry Rogozin, director-general of Roscosmos, posted a video on Twitter of himself climbing down into a big crater reportedly left behind after a check of Russia's new nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Sarmat.

The crater was apparently attributable to a "clean" check missile that did not carry a nuclear warhead.

"With a nuclear cost, such a [crater] on the website of an object of the enemy shall be, properly, very a lot massive and really deep and radioactive," he tweeted, translated from Russian.

"And never only one, however precisely as many as probably the most highly effective nuclear missile on the earth will ship to the territory of a fierce enemy. And we'll quickly have virtually 50 such 'Sarmatians' on fight responsibility.

"I counsel the aggressors to speak to us extra politely."

Sharing Rogozin's crater-based risk on Twitter, Kelly wrote, additionally translated from Russian: "Dmitry Rogozin is a shameful stain on the legacy of Yuri Gagarin and the heroes-cosmonauts of the Russian area program."

Yuri Gagarin was a pilot and cosmonaut of the previous Soviet Union who grew to become the primary human to journey into outer area in 1961.

Rogozin's thinly vieled nuclear risk got here after he advised Russia's Rossiya-24 tv channel that Sarmat ICBM programs could be placed on fight responsibility by autumn this 12 months following extra check launches, Russia's state-owned TASS information company reported on Could 21.

Rogozin is thought for making inflammatory and provocative statements on his Twitter account in help of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. For instance, he has beforehand warned that Russia might pull out of the ISS, which he mentioned might trigger it to fall out of orbit because of the lack of upkeep.

Earlier this month, he despatched what gave the impression to be a risk to Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX, the corporate that has been supplying its Starlink satellite tv for pc web terminals to Ukraine to assist maintain the nation linked. Rogozin mentioned Musk would "be held accountable like an grownup" for this.

It is also not the primary time that Kelly has fired barbs at Rogozin. The 2 have publicly sparred on Twitter prior to now, with Kelly as soon as advising Rogozin to "discover a job at McDonalds" after suggesting that Russia's area company would run out of cash as a result of political isolation.

Rogozin, in flip, has referred to Kelly as a "moron."

Scott Kelly (L) and Dmitry Rogozin
Scott Kelly, left, pictured talking to the media after coming back from an Worldwide House Station (ISS) mission in Houston, Texas, in March, 2026, and Dmitry Rogozin (R), pictured at an area business assembly in Sochi, Russia, in Could, 2017. The 2 males have argued on Twitter this 12 months as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Getty/Eric Kayne/Mikhail Svetlov