Failed rocket launches, a hole in the space station and claims of corruption: Russian space agency says bad publicity is an ‘information attack’ design to cut its budget
- Roscosmos is bemoaning the endless stream of bad publicity
- Says aim is to ‘deprive us’ of state funding
1
View
comments
The Russian space agency Roscosmos is bemoaning the endless stream of bad publicity that it says is designed to curb its funding.
The agency’s press secretary, Vladimir Ustimenko, said Tuesday in an interview published by the RIA Novosti news agency, that Roscosmos is facing an ‘information attack.’
He said the goal of those slamming Roscosmos at home and abroad is to ‘deprive us’ of state funding, ‘which today is almost 20 times less than that of the NASA budget.’
Scroll down for video
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-11 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut leg Kononenko and CSA astronaut David Saint Jacques. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
The Russian space program has been plagued by construction mishaps, launch failures, corruption scandals and allegations of misusing federal funds over the past decade.
Recently, Alexei Kudrin, head of Russia’s Accounts Chamber, a federal budget watchdog, said the financial situation at Roscosmos is ‘astonishing.’
Russian Aleksey Ovchinin and American Nick Hague were forced to make an emergency exit from their Soyuz rocket earlier this year when a booster failed during a launch at the same site two months ago.
Russia’s space agency revealed new video footage of the Soyuz rocket failute that forced astonauts to abandon their mission to the International Space Station 50 miles above Earth.
It shows one of the rockets four boosters failing to release properly, causing the terrifying spin.
Usually, the four boosters fall away perfectly symmetrically, creating a visual phenomenon sometimes referred to as a ‘Korolev Cross,’ after a Soviet rocket engineer.
A tiny hole also appeared in a Russian space capsule locked to the ISS on 29 August.
The ‘micro fracture’ believed to be around 2mm wide in the $150 billion (£115 billion) space station was discovered after astronauts noticed a drop in pressure.
WHAT COULD HAVE CAUSED A HOLE IN THE ISS?
A tiny hole appeared in a Russian space capsule locked to the ISS on 29 August.
The ‘micro fracture’ believed to be around 2mm wide in the $150 billion (£115 billion) space station was discovered after astronauts noticed a drop in pressure.
European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst reportedly put his finger over the hole before crew patched it with tape.
The hole was confirmed repaired by Friday (31 August) after cabin pressure returned to normal.
It was initially believed to have been caused by a small meteorite and astronauts used tape to seal the leak after it caused a minor loss of pressure.
However, as the investigation went on it began to look like the hole was made from someone inside as opposed to outside, either back on Earth or in space, the Russian space agency claimed.
A leading theory from an unnamed source at Energia said the hole was made on the ground – potentially caused by ‘deliberate interference’ – with suggestions the person responsible may have already been identified.
Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said on September 4 the hole was caused by a drill and could have been made with a ‘wavering hand’.
Another anonymous source said the hole was drilled by a worker who hid their mistake with a seal instead of reporting it.
The patchwork repair lasted the trip up to the ISS but after three weeks in orbit gradually peeled away.
A police APC drives prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-11 space ship with U.S. astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut leg Kononenko and CSA astronaut David Saint Jacques, members of the mission to the International Space Station at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Source: Read Full Article