Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday that Igor Ozar who was appointed as acting Head of Russia’s Energia Space Rocked Corporation on Friday will focus on developing the concept of a new orbital station.
“I am confident that he will be able to cope with the tasks faced by Energia Space Rocket Corporation: the launch of the flight tests of the Oryol manned spacecraft in 2023, the work to manage cooperation in creating a super-heavy carrier rocket and its elements and also a whole range of other projects, including the development of the concept of a new orbital station,’’ said Rogozin.
Ozar was the CEO of the Sukhoi Aircraft Company, a company that he had worked for since 1999. He resigned as CEO at the beginning of this year.
According to Tass, during his tenure as the Sukhoi chief, the company implemented large contracts for the delivery of Su-34 frontline bombers and Su-35 multirole fighter jets. He also completed the first stage of trials of Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighter and prepared the plane for serial deliveries.
Earlier this month, the chief designer and engineer of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Yevgeny Mikrin passed away at 65 after testing positive for the new coronavirus.
The passing of Mikrin was first reported by Russia’s state space organization Roscosmos.
“An irreparable loss for Russia’s rocket and space industry, as well as the country’s science,” a Roscosmos obituary said.
Although no official reason was provided for his death yet, a number of reports said that Mikrin had been infected with COVID-19.