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Former Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Director General Yuri Borisov in September 2023. . | Credit: MAXIM SHIPENKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Russia has a new space chief.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Yuri Borisov after 2.5 years in charge of the nation’s space agency Roscosmos, The Moscow Times reported today (Feb. 6).
His replacement is 39-year-old Dmitry Bakanov, who most recently served as Russia’s deputy transport minister and led the state-backed Gonets satellite communications system from 2011 to 2019.
New Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov, at the time deputy minister of transport of the Russian Federation, attends a session on “LET’S GO: Integrated Unmanned Freight Transport Hits the Motorway for the First Time” in the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2023. | Credit: Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Borisov, 68, took Roscosmos’ reins from the blustery Dmitry Rogozin in July 2022, five months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Many of Russia’s former space partners cut or reduced their ties with the nation in the wake of that ongoing invasion, complicating Russia’s launch business and exploration plans.
Related: Roscosmos: Russia’s space agency
Borisov’s relatively brief tenure was marked by turbulence and disappointment, including the August 2023 failure of Luna 25, the first moon mission in modern Russian history. (The most recent moon effort had been Luna 24, launched by the Soviet Union in 1976.)
Roscosmos “also faced corruption scandals, the loss of satellites and other spacecraft, as well as a lack of innovation” under Borisov, according to The Moscow Times, which is an independent newspaper based in Amsterdam.
Still, Russian officials framed Borisov’s ouster as part of a “planned rotation.”
“The corporation needs dynamic development, which is why these personnel changes are taking place,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to The Moscow Times, which also provided the English translation.
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Roscosmos was not Borisov’s first government gig. He was in the Soviet-Russian army for 20 years, for example, and later served as Deputy Minister of Defence as well as Deputy Prime Minister for Defence and Space Industry.
