spacetoday.net: Russian space officials fired over GLONASS failure

Posted: Thu, Dec 30, 2010, 8:33 AM ET (1333 GMT)
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev fired two key Russian space officials on Wednesday and formally reprimanded the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos over the failed launch earlier this month of three GLONASS navigation satellites. Vyacheslav Filin, chief rocket and space systems designer at state-controlled space company RSC Energia, and Viktor Remishevsky, deputy head of Roskosmos, both lost their jobs over the December 5 launch failure. The Proton rocket carrying the three GLONASS spacecraft lifted off normally, but the upper stage reentered shortly thereafter. An investigation determined that miscalculations by Energia engineers resulted in loading an additional 1-1.5 tons of propellant into the Block DM upper stage, making it too heavy to achieve orbit. In addition to the firings, Roskosmos head Anatoly Perminov was reprimanded by Medvedev and told to "take further measures to strengthen executive discipline." The launch failure has delayed full global coverage by the GLONASS system until additional satellites can be launched in early 2011.