Medvedev Pledges $21bn for Space Industry

"This is big money, you must not let a significant part of it be blown away," Medvedev told a government meeting in his Moscow region residence. He did not give the exact timeframe for the expenditure.

Medvedev said a string of recent space failures "just should not be." He earlier said the failures hurt Russia's image as a leading space power.

"No space power has had that many failed launches," he said.

The prime minister sacked a number of senior space officials last month after two satellites were lost due to a failure in the Russian Proton-M rocket's upper stage.

Speaking on Monday, Medvedev said that entire teams working on spacecraft should be held responsible for future failures, not only key officials.