1. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Popovkin was a Russian statesman and military figure.
20 Facts About Vladimir Popovkin
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Vladimir Popovkin was a commander of the Russian Space Forces, then First Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, then General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency.
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Vladimir Popovkin had the military rank of General of the Army and the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
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Vladimir Popovkin was born on 25 September 1957 in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union, where his father was serving in the 211st Tank Division.
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Vladimir Popovkin's family moved to Kalinin in 1968 where he began to study physics and mathematics.
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Vladimir Popovkin entered service with the Soviet Army in 1975, and graduated as an engineer from Leningrad Military-Space Academy in 1979.
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In 1986, Vladimir Popovkin received a position at the Directorate of Space Systems in the Ministry of Defence.
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In 1989 Vladimir Popovkin graduated from Military Academy of Strategic Rocket Forces and continued working as an officer and senior officer in the Directorate of Space Systems.
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Vladimir Popovkin is reported as being the head of the board of trustees of the military's space academy.
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On 10 March 2004, Lieutenant General Vladimir Popovkin was appointed commander of the Space Forces, replacing Anatoly Perminov.
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On 29 April 2011, Vladimir Popovkin was appointed as the head of Russian Federal Space Agency.
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Vladimir Popovkin was head of Roscosmos during the failed launch of Mars probe Fobos-Grunt.
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Vladimir Popovkin initially suggested that the Fobos-Grunt failure might have been the result of sabotage by a foreign nation.
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Vladimir Popovkin announced on 1 February 2012 that a burst of cosmic radiation may have caused computers to reboot and go into a standby mode.
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When Vladimir Popovkin returned to work on 19 March 2012 he gave an interview with Izvestia in which he vehemently denied some of the stories about the reasons for his hospitalisation, which he blamed on sections of the Russian space industry who are threatened by his attempts to counter corruption.
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Roscosmos responded by denying that Vladimir Popovkin was injured after a fight.
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On 29 March 2012, Vladimir Popovkin was reported as saying that he fainted after leaving work and that:.
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Vladimir Popovkin met with Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency to discuss about ExoMars in April 2012.
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In 2005, Vladimir Popovkin received Russian Government's Science and Technology Award.
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Vladimir Popovkin died of cancer on 18 June 2014 in Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel.