Tries To Prevent Launches From Returning To American Soil

The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos has filed a lawsuit in a Russian court against Boeing and SpaceX, saying the two U.S. companies represent unfair competition for their transport business to the International Space Station.

Documents obtained by ANN indicate that Roscosmos is seeking an injunction against the construction and launch of the Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

“The Russian government has had exclusive rights to carry personnel to ISS since the shuttle retired,” said attorney Bill Owerly, who is representing the Russians in the U.S. “Boeing and SpaceX are going to take millions of rubles out of the pockets of hard-working Russian aerospace engineers, and borscht out of the mouths of their kids. It’s that kind of injustice that has come to be expected out of Corporate America,” Owerly said.

“Russia was first with a manned space program, and even though they were never able to achieve the kind of success enjoyed by the U.S., they have a legitimate claim to personnel transport exclusivity,” he said

Neither Boeing or SpaceX would comment on open litigation, even in Russia. But a source with SpaceX who was not authorized to speak to the media said that Elon Musk is confident that, given the weakness of the ruble, the company had deep enough pockets to prevail in the suit. The source said that during a meeting, Musk took off his shoe, pounded the conference table, and shouted “We’ll just bury them.” 

When contacted, a Boeing representative snorted and said “Really?” But then added they could not comment on the case.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.spacex.com