On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fired the Russian space energy chief after a series of high-profile setbacks cast a shadow on the 50^th anniversary year of Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight. The government said in a statement, while quoting an order signed by Putin, Anatoly Perminov will be replaced as head of Roskosmos by First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin.

The order said that Perminov had reached the maximum age for state employees but there have been clear indications for some time of growing frustration in the government with Roskosmos’ performance.

In December, Russia suffered one of its most embarrassing space failures in recent times when three navigation satellites for the new Russian Glonass system crashed into the ocean off Hawaii instead of reaching orbit. Later officials admitted that a simple fuel miscalculation was to blame. In February this year, Russia then put its new Geo-IK-2 military satellite into the wrong orbit, rendering it useless for defense purposes.

According to reports the last straw was when the latest manned launch for the International Space Station was delayed due to a technical problem just two weeks ahead of the Gagarin anniversary. On April 12 Russia marked 50 years since Gargarin’s historic first space flight with huge fanfare and President Dmitry Medvedev made clear in a Kremlin address that space exploration remained a priority for the country.

Leading defense analyst Alexander Goltz told Moscow Echo radio station, it’s quite clear what the cause is, commenting on Perminov’s departure. He added that the most recent failures of Roskosmos like the failed Glonass launch and much else shows the clear worsening of technological discipline in its units. Since March 2004, Perminov has served as Roskosmos chief.

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