You're reading: Washington Post: Russia’s space chief pens stargazing ballads. They also serve Moscow’s political orbit

Washington Post: Russia’s space chief pens stargazing ballads. They also serve Moscow’s political orbit

Published Dec. 29, 2020 at 5:26 am

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, speaks with the media upon arrival with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (both not pictured) in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Oct. 11, 2018.

Photo by AFP

Austerity measures are gripping the Russian space agency Roscosmos, with management facing up to a 20 percent salary hit and staff layoffs predicted. What’s more, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported this month that top officials were fired at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a vast spaceport being built in Russia’s Far East.