Musk ridiculed the Russian “paper rocket”

“Let them demonstrate,” wrote the American engineer and businessman.

In his message, Berger attached a link to his own publication, which talks about recent statements by the head of the Russian state corporation Yuri Borisov, who promised that Amur-LNG will be used up to 100 times, in contrast to the SpaceX Falcon 9 carrier, the first stage of which is allegedly launched only 10 times. The author noted that in fact, one of the first stages of the American rocket has already been launched 20 times, while the launch of the Amur-LNG carrier, which does not yet exist “in hardware,” which Berger considers a “paper rocket,” has already been postponed.

The author recalls that it took the state corporation three decades to develop and test simpler disposable launch vehicles of the Angara family, and therefore Russian plans for the Amur-LNG rocket may be conditional. “It is quite possible that it will never exist,” Berger writes.

On April 15, Borisov at the State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics named after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the city of Kaluga said that the not yet existing reusable Amur-LNG rocket could be used several times more than the Falcon 9 carrier.

In early April, Berger noted that during the first quarter of 2024, Russia launched only five space rockets, while SpaceX managed to conduct 32 launches.

In January, Musk said the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first stage was planned to be tested for 40 flights.