Russian President Vladimir Putin looks over plans for Vostochny. (Credit: Roscosmos)
Russian President-for-Life Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was in the Amur region on April 12 to view construction progress at the new Vostochny spaceport, name its support city after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, announce the commitment of $50 million to the space program through 2020, talk to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, and lay out the future and challenges ahead for the nation’s space program.
Jim Oberg penned a detailed account for Aerospace America of the problems affecting the Russian space program, which has seen a perilous decline in quality in recent years resulting in numerous launch failures. It seems that at least part of the problem has resulted from an inspection process that has shifted from ensuring quality to increasing quantity.
“The current quality assurance system was created in Soviet times,” the source explained. “Quality is controlled at all stages of launch vehicle, upper-stage, and spacecraft production and assembly. It is the plant’s technical control department and military representatives, that is to say representatives of the armed forces in civilian organizations, that give the go-ahead for the finished, assembled product to be shipped to the spaceport.”
The difference today is that these former military inspectors are now paid by the civilian companies. So the greater the amount of hardware shipped, the better their relations with their management, and the bigger their bonuses will be. Thus they have become reluctant to make a fuss if a fault is found with a rocket or satellite. Instead, the source reported, “everything is settled internally.”
Interesting. This video says the spaceport is equipped with a new airport with runways to accommodate space shuttles. Do the Russians have any programs like that?
Russian Ruler-for-Life Vladimir Putin has dismissed Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center General Director Vladimir Nesterov in the wake of last month’s failed launch of a Proton rocket, which stranded two communications satellites in useless orbits.
Russian media report that the Russian president accepted Nesterov’s resignation. Russia has experienced seven launch failures over the past two years, several of which can be tied to failures of Khrunichev produced upper stages.
Media reports said that Nesterov tendered his resignation a week after the Aug. 7 launch failure. However, a statement from Khrunichev said Nesterov remained on the job and could only be dismissed by Putin.
Previously on Planet Putin…. Yet another rocket launch went awry, plunging the Russian space program back into a crisis from which it failed to emerge last year. The two Dmitrys sprang into action, promising to name and shame those responsible and to turn around the floundering space program once and for all. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave Roscomos a month to come up with a plan to fix things. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin vowed to personally oversee the establishment of a new quality control system. Heads began to roll as a high-level official resigned. Meanwhile, Ruler for Life Vladimir Putin maintained a steely silence.
And yet despite this frenzy of activity, matters have somehow become even murkier…
Vladimir Nesterov, director general of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, has resigned following the failure of a Proton rocket to place two communications satellites in their proper orbits last week, Russian media sources report.
Nesterov resigned on Wednesday, a day after President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting to reprimand Russian space officials over the latest launch failure. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also severely criticized the Khrunichev boss on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)
By Douglas Messier Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
As I first reported back in February, Russia is moving forward with the development of its own DARPA. Ruler-for-Life Vladimir Putin has sent a bill to the Duma to establish the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects in the Defense Industry, which Wired has dubbed DARPASKI.
The establishment of the foundation will be overseen by hardline Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, whom Putin appointed last December as defense czar with the goal of cleaning up the corruption-prone defense and error-prone space sectors.
Russian Ruler for Life Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s only president ever, Nursultan Nazarbayev, have directed the heads of their respective space agencies to develop a “comprehensive bilateral agreement governing the joint use of Baikonur, the development of its scientific and technological capacity, joint missile systems, training and participation of Kazakhstani specialists in launch services,” the KAZINFORM news agency reports.
The decision was announced last week during Putin’s official state visit to Almaty, a trip that corresponded with a gathering of the space agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The commonwealth is a loose association of Russia, Kazakhstan and eight other former Soviet republics.
Pity the poor Russian space agency, Roscosmos. After more than a year of launch accidents, harsh criticism from the nation’s rulers, a change in leadership at the top, and the appointment of a high-level czar to clean up the mess at the failure-prone space agency, word leaked out recently of a long-range plan for the nation’s space effort that would land cosmonauts on the moon and accomplish many other cool space activities.
This would normally be a positive sign that officials could point to as evidence of a space agency turning itself around. Unfortunately, the leak occurred amid a series of very public disputes and embarrassments that have overshadowed everything else. The problems have included a dismal response to a cosmonaut recruitment effort, an alleged brawl between two of Russia’s top space officials over a smoking hot model/business escort turned personal press secretary who seems ill suited for her job, a call for Roscosmos’ leader to step down, and a demand by the deputy prime minister for everyone to shut the frak up.
Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin (right) and his press secretary, fomer model Anna Vedischeva.
Can Popovich Hang onto Job After Alleged Fight Over Model?
By Douglas Messier Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
The curious case of Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin — hospitalized recently after suffering a head injury — has taken another strange turn, this one involving an alleged brawl over a sultry model turned personal press secretary.
As you might recall, Roscosmos said Popovkin was hospitalized last week for “physical and emotional exhaustion” as a result of a brutal schedule that included frequent international travel on behalf of the struggling Russian space program he was brought in to save last April. But, that story didn’t hold for very long.
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