Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has raised the prospect of criminal prosecution for recent space mishaps that have embarrassed Moscow.
In televised remarks, Medvedev said “Recent failures are a strong blow to our competitiveness. It does not mean that something fatal has happened, it means that we need to carry out a detailed review and punish those guilty.”
Earlier this month, a probe designed to bring back soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos got stuck in Earth’s orbit, leaving the mission almost no chance of success.
The probe failure came less than three months after a cargo ship headed to the International Space Station burned up in the atmosphere shortly after launch.
Reuters