The Kremlin on Thursday removed the head of Russia's space agency after a tenure of less than three years that was scarred by the spectacular failure of Russia's first mission to the moon in 47 years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the chief of Roscosmos and replaced him with another official in a surprise shake up at one of the world’s biggest space agencies.

In a surprise move, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Yury Borisov as head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. According to a decree published on Thursday on the Kremlin's website, Dmitry Bakanov has been appointed as the new director general of Roscosmos.