The “fallout” from the launch failure of a Proton launch vehicle which destroyed three Glonass navigation satellites in July has become apparent. Following the Proton failure, three Russian engineers at the Proton launch vehicle’s manufacturer Khrunichev have had their careers ended.
According to ITAR-TASS, Alaxanda Kobzar (Deputy Director General for quality control), Valery Grekov (Head of the Assembly Shop), and Mikhail Lebedev (Head of the Technical Control Department) were fired after it was found that they had failed to prevent three out of six critical yaw angular velocity sensors being installed upside down. This faulty installation was found by an investigation to be the principal cause of the launch failure.
