Russian Space Industry Suffering Crisis

Russia's space industry needs an influx of new faces to overcome its current crisis, the head of the Roscosmos agency said on Friday, hours after a satellite crashed aboard a Soyuz-2 booster rocket in southern Siberia. (RUSSIAN-TV REPORT)

The mishap Friday occurred about seven minutes after the Soyuz rocket fired away from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 1208 GMT (7:08 a.m. EST). The kerosene-fueled rocket pointed southeast from Plesetsk, a military-run launching base in Arkhangelsk oblast north of Moscow.

"THE SPACE BRANCH IS SUFFERING A CRISIS. WE MUST RESOLVE THIS SITUATION AND GIVE WAY TO THE YOUTH...PERHAPS IT'S TIME FOR RESHUFFLE," agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said, according to "RIA NOVOSTI".

It is THE FIFTH FAILURE of Russian-made rocket systems this year bringing renewed doubt as to the ability of the industry to sustain astronauts and cosmonauts safely aboard the International Space Station, according to the BBC. More from NASA SPACEFLIGHT, SPACEFLIGHTNOW, AND "THE NEW YORK TIMES".

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