Borisov Replaced as Head of Russia’s Space Program

Yuri Borisov has been replaced as the head of Russia’s space state corporation Roscosmos, which oversees Russia’s participation in the International Space Station and other space activities.  His successor, Dmitry Bakanov, previously headed the Gonets satellite communications company and then was deputy transportation minister.

The Moscow Times quoted a Kremlin spokesperson as saying there were no complaints against Borisov, but “the corporation needs dynamic development.”

The Russian space program has been struggling for years due to lack of funding and reports of corruption. The situation worsened after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 ended agreements with the European Space Agency for space science cooperation and others for launches of Russian Soyuz rockets as well as sales of RD-181 rocket engines to Northrop Grumman for Antares rockets.

Borisov took over as head of Roscosmos five months later in July 2022, replacing Dmitry Rogozin.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, Russia has experienced more setbacks with the loss of the Luna-25 lunar lander, their first in almost 50 years, due to a control system failure, and delays in plans for a new Russian space station to replace the U.S.-Russian-European-Japanese-Canadian International Space Station. Russia is formally committed to the ISS partnership through 2028 and NASA expects them to agree to stay until 2030 when the station will be deorbited. Russia wants its own space station after that, while the other partners are hoping commercial space stations will be available by then.

Russia’s participation in the ISS is the hallmark of Russia’s non-military space program today and even that is not without challenges. Ongoing air leaks in a transfer tunnel between a docking port and the Zvezda module on the Russian segment continue to confound engineers. The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft lost all its coolant in December 2022 and had to be replaced with a new Soyuz to bring the crew back to Earth. A Progress cargo spacecraft also lost coolant two months later. Bakanov is taking over at a time when the Soyuz and Progress issues appear to be resolved, but the air leaks continue.

Russian space enthusiast Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey on X) posted a few details about Bakanov. The 39-year-old has a degree in economics. He worked as a financial specialist, then was President and CEO of the Gonets Satellite System Company, and moved to the Ministry of Transport in 2019, becoming Deputy Minister in April 2022.

‼️This day started suddenly with breaking news for the Russian space community. Yuri Borisov has been dismissed from the post of the General Director of Roscosmos this morning. Former Deputy Minister of Transport Dmitry Bakanov was appointed the new head of Roscosmos. pic.twitter.com/gn3x6hxY1M

— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) February 6, 2025

The 39-years old Dmitry Bakanov, born in Leninsk (Baikonur), graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance with a degree in Economics. After some years of work as a financial specialist in banks and IT companies…

— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) February 6, 2025

… he was appointed President, and then CEO of the Gonets Satellite System Company. In May 2019 he moved to the Ministry of Transport, where he took up the post of Director of the Digital Transformation Department, and since April 2022 – Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia.

— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) February 6, 2025

This article has been updated.