Prime Russian house scientist dies of mushroom poisoning

A senior scientist with Russia’s federal house company, Roscosmos, died Wednesday after he apparently consumed inedible mushrooms.

The demise of Vitaly Melnikov, 77, got here weeks after a Russian unmanned spacecraft crashed onto the floor of the moon, an embarrassing setback for a rustic that was the primary to place a person in house.

The Russian newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets stated Mr. Melnikov led the rocket and house methods at RSC Energia, Moscow’s high spacecraft producer. He was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 11, the identical day a Soyuz rocket carrying the Luna 25 robotic spacecraft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome within the Russian Far East.

The spacecraft spun uncontrolled and crashed into the moon whereas it was getting ready for a prelanding orbit. It was Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years, in line with media stories.

Mr. Melnikov’s household informed authorities that he picked the mushrooms in a forest close to his house outdoors Moscow. He had been doing it for a number of years and had by no means suffered an incident of poisoning, in line with Moskovskij Komsomolets. The newspaper stated he boiled the mushrooms and ate them alone for dinner.