Anatoly Perminov, Head of the Russian Space Agency, Roscomos resigned

Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency, Roscomos resigned from his post in April 2011. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an executive order accepting Perminov’s resignation of head of the Federal Space Agency on the grounds of his having reached the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.

His tenure as the head of the Federal Space Agency witnessed several failed launches. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev had fired two high-ranking space officials as a result of the launch failure and had also reprimanded Perminov. He was held responsible for not enforcing all the necessary pre-launch safety procedures and failing to spot a mistake in calculations that led to Russia’s carrier rocket veering off course and crashing into the Pacific Ocean. As a result of the failure of the launch Russia’s plan to complete a fully operational GLONASS constellation by the end of 2010 was thwarted.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed Vladimir Popovkin, formerly First Deputy Defense Minister, as head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos on 29 April 2011 to replace Perminov. Popovkin also served as chief of staff, first deputy Commander Space Force, from 2001 to 2004, and Commander of the Russian Space Force, from 2004 to 2008.