Vitaly Melnik, 77, a leading rocket scientist for Russia's space agency, reportedly died Thursday after a two-week illness from food poisoning.
It is the latest in a spate of mysterious or suspicious poisonings and deaths in Russia.
Melnik headed the Department of Rocket and Space Systems at RSC Energia, Moscow's top spacecraft manufacturer. The Daily Mail, citing Moscow newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, said Melnik was poisoned by ingesting inedible mushrooms. The circumstances in which he allegedly became poisoned were not revealed.
Melnik's death comes roughly two weeks after Russia's space program suffered an embarrassing blow. Its Luna 25 mission to the south pole of the moon ended Aug. 19 with the spacecraft crashing to the surface. Four days later, India became the first country to land a spacecraft on the moon's south pole.
Melnikov had worked as chief researcher at TsNIIMash, a division of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the Daily Mail reported. He cooperated with NASA as the countries' space agencies maintained relations despite the war in Ukraine. He authored 291 scientific articles and was regarded among the most prominent space scientists. He also was a professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.
His passing comes days after the mysterious death of Gen. Gennady Lopyrev, 69, who was a keeper of secrets about the construction of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea Palace. Lopyrev was jailed for 10 years in 2017 by a military court after being accused of taking bribes and illegal possession of ammunition. Lopyrev became ill — gasping for breath — and was told by doctors he had leukemia, which had been undiagnosed.
The Daily Mail reported suspicions arose that Lopyrev was poisoned after it emerged that the general was eligible for parole.
Last month, Russian opposition politician Elvira Vikhareva, 32, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, shared test results with Russia's Sota news channel that showed she had traces of potassium dichromate, a highly toxic and carcinogenic substance, in her blood. Vikhareva said she began feeling unwell in November with symptoms including hair loss, muscle spasms, and severe stomach pains that lasted until February.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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