Russian President Vladimir Putin has lauded SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, likening him to Sergei Korolev, a pioneering Soviet engineer who kick-started Soviet Union’s early space adventure. The Russian leader was speaking to university students about the country’s space policy when he mentioned the American billionaire and his achievements in the field of space.
“You know, there’s a man, he lives in the States, Musk, who, one might say, raves about Mars. It is not often that such people, charged with a certain idea, appear in the human population,” said Mr Putin, according to state-owned news agency TASS.
“If even it seems incredible to me today, after a while, such ideas often materialise. Just like in their time the ideas of Korolev, our other pioneers, got to materialise. They seemed incredible – some of the plans they made. But they all materialised,” he added.
Mr Korolev, who died in 1966, was the lead rocket engineer and designer for USSR’s satellites and rockets during the space race with the US in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also responsible for the first human spaceflight when the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.
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This is not the first instance when Mr Putin has praised the Tesla boss. In an interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson last year, the Russian president said there is “no stopping Elon Musk” and spoke of his desire to “find common ground” on areas such as artificial intelligence.
Mr Putin was responding to a question about Musk’s company, Neuralink, implanting a chip in the human brain in the US.
“I think there’s no stopping Elon Musk. He will do as he sees fit. Nevertheless, you’ll need to find some common ground with him. Search for ways to persuade him,” he said.
“I think he’s a smart person. I truly believe he is. So you’ll need to reach an agreement with him because this process needs to be formalized and subjected to certain rules. It is impossible to use the AI today like it was in the case of gunpowder back then,” he added.