The head of Russia’s Roskosmos space agency, Igor Komarov, says employees and executives in Russia’s space industry are ultimately to blame for a delay of the maiden rocket launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Komarov told reporters on April 27 that “the responsibility for what is happening in the space sector lies with the people who are doing this work and supervising it.”
A Soyuz rocket carrying three satellites was due to be launched on the morning of April 27 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
But the launch was halted less than three minutes before takeoff, and a second attempt was scheduled for April 28.
Komarov initially had ruled out human error, saying the halt was caused by a “glitch” and was triggered automatically.
President Vladimir Putin traveled to Russia’s Far Eastern region of Amur for the launch. He planned to stay another day to see the launch attempt on April 28.
