
Yuri Borisov, who has red Roscosmos since July 2022, was dismissed from his position last Thursday. It was called a normal rotation. However, you may recall the failed Russian attempt to put its Luna-25 lander on the Moon in August 2023, which happened during Mr. Borisov’s tenure.
His replacement is Dmitry Bakanov, who served as a deputy transport minister. Mr. Bakanov also ran the Gonets Satellite System company before joining the government. Gonets is more-or-less the Russian version of SpaceX’s Starlink.
Roscosmos has been struggling the last few years with troubled missions, including a leaking in one of its International Space Station (ISS) modules and cancelled partnerships with other nations due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That said, its Soyuz rockets and spacecraft continue to be major components supporting the ISS.