On Saturday, US Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond tweeted that the recently launched Iranian satellite Noor-1 is "a tumbling webcam in space", which is "unlikely" to provide any useable intelligence data.
"@US_SpaceCom continues to track 2 objects @PeteAFB ’s @18SPCS associated w/#space launch from Iran, characterizing NOUR 01(#SATCAT 45529) as 3U Cubesat. Iran states it has imaging capabilities—actually, it’s a tumbling webcam in space; unlikely providing intel. #spaceishard", Raymond said.
Raymond's tweet, however, has been ridiculed by netizens, who mocked the American under the hashtag "#spaceishard".
Some users argued that Raymond's comment is a sign of "denial" that non-Western countries are capable of achievements in their space programmes.
"Space is hard" is a quote from NASA's space program ads, but also a catch phrase for every time something goes wrong.
Some came up with their own memes for the situation.
lran launched its first military satellite 'Noor-1', which means "Light" in Persian, on Wednesday, and it has been successfully placed into an orbit about 425 kilometres above the Earth's surface. The launch came after several unsuccessful attempts to put a Zafar satellite into orbit aimed at gathering data on earthquakes and natural disasters.
US President Donald Trump tried to downpay the significance of the launch, while his appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that he had found the launch "deeply troubling".