Head of Russian rocket maker resigns following launch failures

MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior official at Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos had resigned after the country's string of launch failures, Roscosmos said Thursday.

Vladimir Nesterov, head of the Khrunichev Space Research and Production Center, had submitted his resignation to the government, Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said.
.....
Analysts believe Nesterov's resignation was the first but may not be the last casualty following sharp criticism from the federal government.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that hardships the space industry had been experiencing could not justify the string of failures in recent years and warned he was going to make some decisions on those responsible for the failures.

On Aug. 6, a Proton-M carrier rocket failed to put two telecommunications satellites into the correct orbit.