Moscow, Nov 28 (ANI): Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has raised the prospect of criminal prosecution for space mishaps following a series of embarrassing launch failures his country has suffered over the past year.
In a recent television interview, Medvedev said that series of failed launches are a strong blow to the nation's competitiveness and that people who are guilty of it would be punished.
"Recent failures are a strong blow to our competitiveness. It does not mean that something fatal has happened, it means that we need to carry out a detailed review and punish those guilty," the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.
"I am not suggesting putting them up against the wall like under Stalin, but seriously punish either financially or, if the fault is obvious, it could be a disciplinary or even criminal punishment," he added.
Medvedev's comments come after a number of failures in recent space missions.
Earlier this month, a probe designed to bring back soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos got stuck in Earth's orbit, leaving Russia's first interplanetary mission in years with almost no chance of success.
The failure is thought to have cost around 100million pounds and occurred after engines that were supposed to propel the craft into orbit failed to ignite.
The probe failure came less than three months after a cargo ship carrying food and fuel to the International Space Station burned up in the atmosphere. (ANI)
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