NPO Automatics CEO resigns over delay of first launch from Vostochny spaceport

YEKATERINBURG, May 5. /TASS/. Director General of the Research and Production Association of Automatics (NPO Automatics) Leonid Shalimov has tendered resignation because of the postponement of the first launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from the Vostochny spaceport, the company’s press service reported on Thursday.

"The director general has tendered resignation. Mikhail Trapeznikov, first deputy director general for science, has been appointed acting head of NPO Automatics. The special probe commission continues its work at the company today," the press service said.

The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket was supposed to be launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the morning on April 27, but the launch was canceled by the automatic system. The blastoff took place a day later - on April 28.

Head of the Roscosmos State Space Corporation Igor Komarov said that the glitch "was caused most likely by a cable malfunction." Later, the Izvestia newspaper reported, citing a source in the Roscosmos leadership that the cable was made not by the design documentation and "lacked several required jumpers."

It became known previously that Shalimov received a service incompetence note. Head of Roscosmos Komarov and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the national rocket and space industry, were reprimanded.