Former Astronaut Scott Kelly Tells Russian Space Chief Dmitry Rogozin to Find McDonald's Job

Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has publicly clashed with Dmitry Rogozin, director of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, on Twitter, with Kelly implying that Russia could soon have no space industry at all without international cooperation.

The hostile exchange was sparked by a March 2 tweet by Rogozin which included footage of Roscosmos staff apparently stripping a Russian rocket of international flag decals.

"The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful," Rogozin wrote.

It comes as Roscosmos has become increasingly isolated as countries seek to distance themselves from Russia following its widely-condemned ongoing invasion of Ukraine starting February 24 which, up to March 5, had caused 364 verified civilian deaths including 25 children, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). However, it's believed the real figures are considerably higher.

Russia has faced wide sanctions in response to the violence which have also affected its space agency.

Last week, Roscosmos announced that it would not cooperate with Germany on joint experiments in the Russian segment of the International Space Station; then announced the cancellation at the last minute of a planned launch of satellites belonging to U.K. government-affiliated company OneWeb; and said it would no longer sell rocket engines to the U.S.

Against this backdrop of Roscosmos cutting ties with foreign countries, Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and ISS commander, appeared to tweet at Rogozin on Sunday, referring to him as "Dimon" whilst linking to the footage of Roscosmos staff removing foreign flags from the Russian rocket.

Kelly wrote, translated from Russian: "Dimon, without those flags and the foreign exchange they bring in, your space program won't be worth a damn. Maybe you can find a job at McDonald's if McDonald's still exists in Russia."

In response, Rogozin stated that Scott had "bitten" the "helping hand" of Roscosmos, referring to the several years following the closure of the Space Shuttle program in which U.S. astronauts relied on Russia to travel to and from the ISS.

"Unfortunately, Scott Kelly, known for keeping a python at home and feeding him live mice, is not the only U.S. astronaut who behaves like this," Rogozin said in a follow-up tweet translated from Russian. "The bet on the creation of national, Russian manned systems is now obvious to everyone."

Rogozin has blamed other countries such as the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany for what Roscosmos has referred to as the "collapse of cooperation" in space.

Last week, experts told Newsweek that NASA could operate the ISS alone if Russia—a key ISS partner over the past 20 years—pulled out.