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.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that it had named a new head of Russia's space agency to ensure its ability to develop "dymanically" but rejected the suggestion that his fired predecessor had done anything wrong.