Sergey Pavlovich Korolev

Sergey Pavlovich Korolev (12.01.1907 / 30.12.1906 - 14.01.1966) was a scientist, the founder of practical cosmonautics, an outstanding designer and organizer of the work on the development of rocket and space technology in the USSR. He is rightfully considered the pioneer of many basic directions of development of domestic missile weapons and rocket and space technology, which provided strategic parity and made the Soviet Union an advanced rocket and space power. For outstanding contribution to the defense of the homeland and in the development of practical cosmonautics, Academician S.P.Korolev was twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (in 1956 and 1961), he was awarded the Lenin Prize (in 1957) and the K.E.Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was born on January 12, 1907 (December 30, 1906) in Zhytomyr in the family of a teacher of Russian literature. In 1923, joined the organization "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet" (EFDF), designed his first non-motorized glider. In 1924 he graduated from the Odessa Construction Professional School. On June 1, 1924 Korolev filed a request for admission to the Air Fleet Academy, the decision was delayed, and he entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute aviation department. He then transferred to the Moscow N.E.Bauman Higher Technical School. At this time, S.P.Korolev designed and built aircraft: gliders Koktebel, Krasnaya Zvezda and light aircraft SK-4, designed to achieve a record range of flight. These works showed obvious abilities as an aviation designer. He graduated in 1930, having received the profession of aeromechanics engineer, MVTU at the same time as the Moscow school of glider pilots, having obtained the pilot's certificate. The scientific supervisor of his thesis project on the design of a light-engine aircraft SK-4, which was built and was flying tests, was A.N. Tupolev. Since 1927 he worked at the enterprises of the aviation industry, participated in All-Union glider competitions. Since June 1930, he was a senior engineer of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI).

In 1931, together with F.A. Zander, he organized one of the first rocket organizations in the country - the Jet Propulsion Group (GIRD) under the Central Council of Osoaviakhim, which he headed in May 1932, becoming also the chairman of its Technical Council. Already from April 1932 it became essentially a state research and development laboratory for the development of rocket aircraft, in which the first domestic liquid ballistic missiles GIRD-09 (designs of MK Tikhonravov) and GIRD-X were created and tested (design of FA Zander), the launch of the latter was carried out on November 25, 1933.

At the end of 1933, after the merger of the Moscow GIRD with the Leningrad Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL) and the formation of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) on their basis, under the leadership of I.T.Kleimenova, Sergei Pavlovich was appointed his deputy. From the beginning of 1934, due to a divergence in views on the prospects for the development of rocket technology, Korolev transferred to the post of head of the department of rocket aircraft. As head of the department in 1936, he managed to bring to test cruise missiles with a powder propulsion engine and with a liquid rocket engine.

In 1934 the work of Sergei Pavlovich was published "Rocket flight in the stratosphere." He developed a number of successful projects, including the projects of a guided cruise missile (flying in 1939) and a rocket-propelled RP-318-1 with a rocket engine. In 1937, he participated in the tests of a rocket with an engine "ORM-65" designed by V.P.Glushko.

These were difficult times in the Soviet Union as the great purges began under Stalin. On 23 March 1938, Valentin Glushko was arrested. To reduce his charges he denounced Korolev, and from that day on, by some accounts the two men were bitterly opposed to each other. By another account, one of the employees Andrei Kostikov wrote a denunciation of the director Ivan Kleimenov, chief engineer Georgy Langemak, as well as the most gifted designers Valentin Glushko and Sergei Korolev. The NKVD arrested them. The investigator read to him the testimony of Kleimenov and Langemak, who accused Glushko of wrecking.

On 07 June 1938, S.P.Korolev was unreasonably repressed and sentenced to 10 years. Glushko had denounced Korolev and sent him to the GULAG. At first Korolev was deported to Kolyma. For reconsideration of the verdict he petitioned famous pilots V.S.Grizodubova and M.M. Gromov, along with aircraft designer A.N.Tupolev, who was also in prison at that time. In 1940, after reviewing the case, S.P.Korolev was transferred from Kolyma to A.N.Tupolev' Moscow Design Bureau at the NKVD, where repressed aviation specialists created a front-line bomber Tu-2.

With the appointment of Valentin Petrovich chief designer of OKB NKVD-29 in Kazan, he immediately began to look for Korolev, and requested the NKVD to send Kleimenov, Langemak and Korolev to the OKB. In the middle of November 1942, S.P.Korolev was transferred to another organization of the same camp type - OKB of the USSR NKVD at Kazan Plant No. 16, which, under the leadership of V.P.Glushko, was working on rocket engines of new types for the purpose of their use in aviation. S.P.Korolev began implementing the idea of ??practical use of rocket engines in aviation. Korolev, working in the OKB as Deputy Chief Engine Designer, dealt with the problem of equipping serial combat aircraft with liquid rocket boosters.

In parallel with the design of the rocket accelerator, Sergei Pavlovich strove to realize his long-standing idea of ??creating a rocketplane equipped with a jet engine. There was born the project of an interceptor aircraft with a RD-1 jet engine, which was presented in the work "Introduction to the question of an interceptor aircraft with a RD-1 jet engine."

In 1944 Korolev wrote the work "Explanatory note to the draft design of a special modification of the fighter" Lavochkin 5VI" with auxiliary jet engines "RD-1" and "RD-3", "Cruise missiles" (a brief review of the work carried out at the RNII in 1932-1938). In the same year, Korolyov appealed to the military authorities of the country with a draft program for the development of combat missile systems.

July 27, 1944, a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on his early release. In the GULAG Korolev lost all its teeth.

In November 1944, Korolev was promoted to the helm of his own team and given just three days to come up with a proposal for a Soviet equivalent to the German V2 missile. He met the challenge although his proposal had a range of only 75 km, just one quarter that of the V-2.

In August 1945, Sergei Pavlovich returned to Moscow. In September, he left for Germany as a specialist in the Technical Commission for the Study of Trophy Missile Equipment. May 13, 1946, it was decided to establish an industry in the USSR to develop and manufacture missile weapons with liquid rocket engines. In accordance with the same resolution, all groups of Soviet engineers for the study of German V-2 rocket weapons, which had been operating in Germany in 1945, were united into a single Nordhausen research institute, whose director was Major-General L.M. Gaidukov, and the chief engineer-technical supervisor was S.P.Korolev. In Germany, Sergei Pavlovich not only studied the German V-2 rocket, but also designed a more advanced ballistic missile with a range of up to 600 km.

August 9, 1946 Korolev S.P. was appointed Chief Designer of "product number 1" - long-range ballistic missiles NII-88 and the head of department number 3 for their development. The first task assigned to S.P.Korolyov as the chief designer and all organizations engaged in missile armament was the creation of an analog of the V-2 rocket from domestic materials. On October 18, 1947, the first sample of a ballistic missile was launched at the Kapustin Yar. In 1948, Korolev was engaged in the improvement of high-altitude geophysical rockets created on the basis of the military, and reading a course of lectures on missile technology at the Bauman MVTU. While engaged in combat ballistic missiles, S.P.Korolev aspired to the main goal - the conquest of outer space and human space flight.

In 1949, Sergei Pavlovich, together with scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences, began studies using modifications of the R-1A rocket through their regular vertical launches to heights of up to 100 km, and then with the help of more powerful R-2 and R-5 missiles at altitudes of 200 and 500 km, respectively. The purpose of these flights was to study the parameters of near space, solar and galactic radiation, the Earth's magnetic field, the behavior of highly developed animals under cosmic conditions (weightlessness, overload, large vibrations and acoustic loads), as well as the development of life support and the return of animals to Earth from space - about seventy such launches were made. This laid the foundation for the storming of space by man.

In 1953 he became a member of the CPSU. In the same year he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1954, he appealed to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a proposal to create and launch into space an artificial Earth satellite (AES) with the help of the R-7 rocket. The initiative was supported. In August 1956, OKB-1 left the research institute-88 and became an independent organization, the chief designer and director of which was appointed S.P.Korolev. In 1955 he directed the development of the first samples of spacecraft. He participated in the construction of ground testing services at the Baikonur cosmodrome. In 1956 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the development of new models of military missiles.

October 4, 1957 SP Korolev launched the first in the history of mankind, the Earth's Artificial Satellite, into a near-earth orbit. This flight was a stunning success and created high international prestige. In June 1958 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1958, he manages the development and launching into space of a geophysical satellite, and then of twin satellites, Electron, to study the Earth's radiation belts.

In 1959, Korolev supervised the preparation and launch of the automatic interplanetary stations Luna-1, Luna-2, and Luna-3 . The latter transmitted pictures of the invisible side of the moon. Subsequently, S.P.Korolev began developing a more perfect lunar apparatus for its soft landing on the surface of the moon, photographing and transmitting to the Earth a lunar panorama.

On 3 December 1960, Korolev suffered his first heart attack. At that time, it was discovered that he suffered from a kidney disorder brought on by his detention in the Soviet prison camps. His doctors warned that if he continued his pace of work, he would not live long. Korolev was convinced that Khrushchev was interested in the space program for its propaganda value. Fearing it might be cancelled entirely if the Soviets started losing their leadership to the United States, he continued to push himself even harder.

On April 12, 1961, S.P. Korolyov again won a victory of world significance. Having created the first manned spacecraft "Vostok", he realized the first orbital flight of a man - a citizen of the USSR Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin in outer space. A ship with a man on board made one turn around the planet and successfully returned to Earth. Then followed a sequence of flights. On August 6, 1961. G.S. Titov on the Vostok-2 spacecraft completed the second space flight, which lasted a day. On 11 to August 12, 1962 - the joint flight of spacecraft "Vostok-3" and "Vostok-4", manned by cosmonauts A.N. Nikolaev and P.R.Popovich; a direct radio link was established between the cosmonauts. From 14 to June 16, 1963 - a joint flight of cosmonauts V.F. Bykovsky and V.V. Tereshkova on ships Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 ; the possibility of flying into space of a woman is being studied. On 12 to October 13, 1964 in space crew of three people in a near-earth orbit on the more complex spaceship "Voskhod." March 18, 1965 during a flight on the ship "Voskhod-2" with a crew of two people, cosmonaut A.A. Leonov made the world's first spacewalk in a spacesuit through a lock chamber.

Chertok recalled "S.P. had the habit of finding fault with disorder in the reception rooms when he visited the offices of his deputies. Sometimes he would test the secretaries by giving them tasks and checking to see how quickly and precisely they carried them out. It was a disaster if something rubbed him the wrong way. Rather than berate the secretary, he chewed out the one in charge of the office... His facial expression, the glint in his eyes, and the position of his head always betrayed Korolev’s mood and state of mind. He did not have Glushko’s ability to maintain a completely impenetrable and imperturbable appearance regardless of his inner state.... All he required was work with full commitment, enthusiasm, and decency. S. P. had a knack for discerning and appreciating honest and decent people. He drew people to himself based on their professional qualities, and in his inner circle he appreciated this same cultured integrity."

By 1962 Korolev's health problems were accumulating and he was suffering from numerous ailments. He had a bout of intestinal bleeding that led to him being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. In 1964 doctors diagnosed him with cardiac arrhythmia.

Sergey Pavlovich Korolev himself proved to be very simple in dealing with ordinary employees. Constantly was aware of the state of all workings. If necessary, staff could easily meet with him and discuss in detail in the office of the Chief Designer the problem that had arisen.

The recognized leader and pioneer of missile technology, S.P. Korolev, was a determined and purposeful man, blasting any obstacles on the way to the goal. At one time there was a story that became a legend when he and the head of state did not come to a common opinion on the development of a new direction. N.S. Khrushchev simply refused. What SP? Korolev in a fairly sharp form stripped: "Then I will complain about you to the Politburo."

Khrushchev, after all, was the head of the all-powerful supreme power bloc of the Central Committee of the CPSU Central Committee, the decisions of which were final and were not subject to discussion. According to legend, N.S. Khrushchev could not stand the pressure, asked not to get so hot, and offered to continue the conversation over a cup of tea. Diplomatic curtsey of the head of state and allowed in the end to find an acceptable solution.

Developing the program of manned near-Earth flights, Sergei Pavlovich began to implement his ideas on the development of a manned spacecraft. Its prototype was a fundamentally new, more perfect than the previous, Soyuz spacecraft, whose project it approved. In parallel with the development of manned space flight, work was carried out on satellites of scientific, economic and defense purposes.

Korolev had his own plan to beat the US in the ‘Moon Race’. He proposed building a giant rocket, the 100-m tall N-1 as well as a modular spacecraft which had a promising future: Soyuz. Korolev could not come to an agreement with Glushko. Now the leading designer of Soviet rocket engines, Glushko believed cryogenic propulsion to be a dead end. To bypass him, Korolev turned to Nikolai Kuznetsov, who came from the aeronautical propulsion field. The problem was that as Kuznetsov’s engines were very small, the enormous N-1 would need 42 of them, 35 just for the first stage alone. Work on the N-1 was frozen and its development was only approved in 1964. By that date, the US lunar program had been a national priority for three years.

Korolev had a knack for keeping an eye on the behavior and relationships between people, even when they were not his subordinates, and his skill for intervening — always appropriately — in the assignment of personnel.

The premature death of Sergei Pavlovich interrupted his creative flight. In 1965 he was diagnosed with cancer and advised to undergo colon surgery. His health was wrecked for life by spending years in the Kolyma slave labor gold mine. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev died in the sixtieth year of life on January 14, 1966. His weak heart contributed to his death during surgery. Sergei Pavlovich was operated by the Minister of Health of the USSR, a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Professor B.V.Petrovsky, who was assisted by D.F. Blagovidov, head of the surgical department, associate professor and candidate of medical sciences. They found a tumor the size of a fist, a sarcoma, a malignant tumor. Petrovsky decided to remove the sarcoma, and at the same time removed the rectum.

Korolev died without regaining consciousness. Cardiac arrest occurred 30 minutes after the end of the operation. From the memories of NL. Timofeeva: "A few days before the operation, Sergei Pavlovich came to the academy .. He was sad and stayed with the president for a very long time. When he came out, he sat with us for a while and said that he was going to have an operation. It was felt that it was very disturbing. A few days later he called Mstislav Vsevolodovich on the phone, but he was absent. Sergei Pavlovich asked me to say hello to him and say that he is leaving for the hospital, the car is already waiting.

"Then ... Then Academician V.P. phoned me. Mishin, who was in the "Kremlin" on the day of Operation SP. Korolev, and quietly said: "SP. died. " It was scary, I did not want to believe in it! After all, he had just talked to us on the phone ... I wrote a note to Mstislav Vsevolodovich, who was holding a meeting in the conference room. He looked at the note and put it off. I was just dumbfounded: what is it? Continues to hold a meeting! Suddenly he took a note again, read it and just collapsed on a chair ... He got up, stopped the lecturer and read the note aloud. Everyone froze. The room was quiet and quiet. What they heard seemed improbable! "

His obituary was published in the Pravda newspaper on 16 January 1966, showing a photograph of Korolev with all his medals. The urn with its ashes was installed on the Red Square in the Kremlin wall.

Sergei Korolev is the man responsible for the first human spaceflight. Although the world knew of his achievements - Sputnik, Vostok, Soyuz - the man himself remained a total mystery until his death, as his identity was a well-kept state secret. A victim of Stalinism, after his death he became an icon of Russian rocketry and both his rocket and spaceship designs are still flying today.

The most important contribution of S.P. Korolev consisted in the fact that over the course of two decades he was able to transfuse his desire to fathom the unknown to thousands of people who were working with him, to continuously confront his team with creative challenges, and he knew how to arrive to a trade-off decision to solve a problem, and to direct his team's efforts to the solution of those problems that were the most critical at that moment.

From the moment of its inception to the present day, the organization successively known under the names of Department 3 SKB NII-88/ SDB-1/ TsKBEM/ NPO Energia/ S.P. Korolev RSC Energia - has successfully carryied out the most daring rocket and space projects requiring revolutionary engineering solutions. The organization has been changing its name, while preserving and increasing both its production capacity and intellectual resources.

Pride of place in the history of space science in the country is held by the R-7 rocket design effort. This rocket, originally developed at a short notice as a vehicle for delivering a nuclear warhead to any point on the globe, became a starting point for a long line of launch vehicle modifications that are still being used for putting into space manned spacecraft and spacecraft for various applications.

The Special Design Bureau Number One, the organization which started the missiles industry and has been continuously building up its intellectual, technological and production potential, happened to be chosen by History to become the pioneer in virtually all the fields of space industry in our country, as well as to play a leading role in bringing into being and developing the world's space science.