Vladimir Putin removes Dmitry Rogozin as head of Roscosmos; appoints Borisov as new chief

Russian President Vladimir Putin removed Dmitry Rogozin as the Director-General of the state-owned space agency, Roscosmos. Rogozin, who assumed Russia's space chief position on May 24, 2018, will now be replaced by Yury Borisov, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, according to an official release by the Kremlin. Putin reportedly signed a decree wherein he dismissed Rogozin from his responsibilities effective from the date of the signing, July 16. 

After leaving his office, controversial leader Rogozin said, "Four years in Roscosmos are not merely a job, it’s an entire life". According to TASS news, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Dmitry Rogozin's resignation from his post is not linked to any complaints and that he will be appointed to a new position. 

Rogozin's tenure as Roscosmos chief

During the final days of his tenure as the Roscosmos chief, Rogozin upset and insulted the western nations on multiple occasions especially after Vladimir Putin ordered a 'military operation' in Ukraine. He has been extremely vocal in supporting Moscow for its war on Ukraine and has not hesitated in cancelling major space missions with international partners. Since February 24, Russia has cancelled a Venus mission it was developing with NASA.

Earlier this week, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it is officially terminating the ExoMars mission as a sign of protest. The ExoMars mission was scheduled to liftoff in September this year to put a European rover and a Russian lander on the surface of Mars. In addition to this, Russia's actions have also led to the suspension of multiple Moon missions which ESA and Roscosmos were jointly developing. 

Apart from these major setbacks, Rogozin also picked fights with American entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and halted the supply of its RD-180 rocket engines to the US. Besides, he spilt the Russia-Ukraine conflict into outer space and announced Russia's exit from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024.

Russia aiming to revise its space program

Ivan Moiseyev, scientific director of the Moscow Space Club said as per TASS that Borisov must revise Russia's space program until 2025 and make adjustments to the projects planned ten years after that.

"We had a very large proportion of components from the United States and, accordingly, they need to be changed, and changing means not just taking and replacing, but they need to be tested, the tests are long, expensive and complex", Moiseyev told TASS. "And the second problem is obvious, as it was announced already, it concerns a decline in funding for the space industry". he further said that Roscosmos must also be ready to abandon certain projects if necessary.