Top Russian Rocket Scientist Dies of Mushroom Poisoning Weeks After Moscow’s Failed Moon Landing

A prominent Russian rocket scientist died of apparent mushroom poisoning at a Moscow hospital Wednesday morning, just weeks after a Russian spacecraft failed to land on the south pole of the Moon.

Vitaly Melnikov, 77, worked at RSC Energia, the rocket company that built the Luna-25 craft, which crashed on its ill-fated Moon mission on August 19, according to Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Moscow-based newspaper.

Had it successfully landed, Luna-25 would have been the first time Russia returned to the Moon since the end of the Soviet era.

Melnikov, who authored nearly 300 papers and previously collaborated with NASA scientists, spent about 20 days in the hospital before finally succumbing to the poisoning.

Relatives said he picked the mushrooms in the forest near his second home outside of Moscow on August 9 -- the day before Luna-25 launched. The following afternoon, he reportedly boiled them and ate them for dinner. His family was in Moscow at the time.

The next day, Melnikov began experiencing signs of poisoning, including low blood pressure and dehydration, and he was brought to the hospital. His condition continued to worsen, and he died on the morning of August 30.

Doctors presumed he had picked a poisonous mushroom that had a similar shape and color to the ones he normally ate. His family told the Russian paper he'd picked mushrooms every summer but had never been sickened by them before.

A different scientist involved in the same lunar project project, 90-year-old Mikhail Marov, reportedly suffered a severe health deterioration just after the lander crashed, according to The Statesman.

Marov told local press that the failure had impacted his physical health. "For me, perhaps, it was the last hope to see the revival of our lunar program," he reportedly said.

Some experts have speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be behind a spate of unexplained deaths among prominent Russian officials, journalists, and political enemies.

Some two dozen Russian businessmen died under mysterious circumstances in 2022 alone. Most recently, a plane carrying mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and other top leadership of the Russia-backed Wagner Group, which had been fighting on the frontlines of Ukraine before staging a coup, was shot down on August 23.