This July 15, 2022, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has a new director general.
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[EN VIDÉO] First takeoff of Soyuz in Guyana Relive the historic take-off of the first Soyuz in French Guiana on October 21, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. (Paris time), with the first two operational Galileo satellites on board. © Esa
On July 15, a decree from President Putin removed Dmitri Rogozin from his position as director general of Roscosmos. The former Russian ambassador to NATO had headed the Russian space agency since May 2018. Very active on social networkshe was particularly talked about on the occasion of the war in ukraine for his openly nationalist positions. Rogozin should be posted elsewhere in the state services.
It is now Yuri Borissov, Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and the Space Industry, who is in charge of the Russian space program. On the program, he will take care of Roscosmos’ current files, in particular the next few years of operation of the International Space Station (ISS), the replacement of the launcher fleet with the commissioning of Angara, the uncertainties on cooperation international like the mission Exomarsand then the Russian projects that could see the light of day at the end of the decade: the space station ROSSa possible Sino-Russian moon base and the development of the Yenisei super-heavy launch vehicle.
No information on the reason for this change of direction
No official reason has been given for this change of direction, so it is impossible to say that the positions of Rogozin, although a fervent defender of the military policy of Vladimir Putin, are in question, but such a hypothesis is possible. Indeed, as soon as Borissov was appointed, Roscosmos communicated on the presence of cosmonauts Russians on board the American capsules. A possible hypothesis would then be Moscow’s desire to decouple the space sector from the global geopolitical situation.
This would thus make it possible to renew and strengthen the international partnerships currently in decline, partnerships which have been one of the only sources of Russian space activity since the fall of the USSR. let’s remember that Soyuz was for nearly 10 years the only way to reach the International Space Station.
What you must remember
- Dmitry Rogozin has been director general of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency since 2018.
- Yuri Borissov replaces him from July 15, 2022.
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