Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov takes the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to task for a pair of recent launch failures and for falling behind on satellite construction projects, according to AFP, which cited Russian press reports.
In December, a Proton rocket failed to deploy three Glonass navigation satellites in what was later found to be a fueling error that led to the dismissal of two senior space officials. That mishap was followed by one in early February in which the Russian military’s Geo-1K satellite was left in a useless orbit.
“‘The recent failure with the Glonass satellites is a characteristic example,’” Ivanov said. ‘I won’t go into details, this was a mistake, but a childish one and a mistake that had serious consequences.’
“‘Any repeat of the mistakes of the recent past — and I am referring to the loss of the Glonass satellites and the partial Geo-IK failure — is of course unacceptable,’” he warned, quoted by Russian news agencies.”