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President Vladimir Putin sacked Dmitry Rogozin as head of the Russian Space Agency, or Roscosmos. Photos/REUTERS
Citing reports Gizmodo, Saturday (16/7/2022), Rogozin was removed from his position just days after he criticized the European Space Agency, threatening to restrict access to the robotic arm mounted on the International Space Station (ISS).
It was one of a series of “long explosions” that characterized his windy four-year tenure at Roscosmos.
Rogozin has been in the spotlight of the Western media because of his persistence in defending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He once expressed his disappointment over the international sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States (US) and Europe.
Rogozin constantly threatened to make Russia withdraw from the ISS, jeopardizing the long-term partnership with the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
In March, Russian state media posted a fake video made by Roscosmos of Russian cosmonauts packing up their belongings and apparently departing from the ISS for good, releasing Russian modules from the orbital station.
Earlier this week, Rogozin ordered Russian cosmonauts on the ISS to halt their work on a new European robotic arm attached to a segment of the Russian space station.
Rogozin accused the ESA of sabotaging the mission to Mars after the space agency formally terminated its collaboration with Roscosmos on the ExoMars mission scheduled for launch in September.
Rogozin also used the ISS as a platform to promote nationalistic propaganda, posting photos on Roscosmos’ official Telegram channel of three cosmonauts raising the flag of the Russian-backed Ukrainian separatist region in support of the ongoing invasion.
NASA issued a rare statement condemning the use of the ISS to display the Ukrainian separatist flag, but the space agency has instead maintained diplomatic relations with its Russian counterpart in an effort to maintain the ISS partnership.
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