Shakeup of Russian space industry ordered

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MOSCOW, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Russia's far-flung space industry will reorganized into five or six large holdings, the head of the country's space agency says.

Vladimir Popovkin of the Roscosmos Federal Space Agency said Monday the reform would make the troubled industry more manageable.

The country's space industry has suffered a numbers of failures in its mission launch attempts in recent years, including the recent loss of two telecommunications satellites caused by a malfunction of the Proton M rocket launch vehicle.

Russia's space industry grew fractured in the 1990s when it lost most of its government funding, resulting in 130-plus enterprises developing vastly different ownership structures, RIA Novosti said.

A proposed list of industries to get separate holdings includes orbital spacecraft development, in-orbit operation, guidance systems, scientific research, testing and strategic rocketry, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Monday.