OKB-1 S.P.Korolev

In 1947, Mikhail Tikhonravov established a group for conducting systematic research projects at the Research Institute of Artillery Sciences. Members of this group were instructed to study the possibility of developing composite (multi-stage) ballistic missiles. After analyzing the group’s findings, Korolev decided to create a rough sketch of a powerful composite missile.

On May 20, 1954, the Soviet Government issued a resolution instructing OKB-1 to develop an intercontinental and thermonuclear-capable missile. Special Design Bureau No. 456 headed by Valentin Glushko developed powerful new engines for the R-7 missile. The R-7’s guidance system was designed by Nikolai Pilyugin and Boris Petrov, and Vladimir Barmin designed the launch facility. Several other organizations were also involved in this project.

In 1946 S.P.Korolev was charged with heading the development work on ballistic liquid-propellant long-range missiles. Having gained experience with the prototype research missiles of the pre-war period and having studied the problems with the German missile weapons, Korolev began his own independent path of development. He created a number of teams within the rocket-space complex.

To provide operational solutions to all of the various fundamental scientific and technical problems encountered in the course of developing the missile complexes, Korolev initiated the Council of Chief Designers, including S.P.Korolev, V.P.Barmin, V.P.Glushko, V.I.Kuznetsov, N.A.Pilyugin, and M.S.Rjazansky. Each Chief Designer headed his own KB (Design Bureau), each with a different specialty.

The first controlled ballistic long-range missile, the R-1, was developed by the Korolev team based on the German A-4 (V-2) rocket in 1948. The R-1 missile was 13.4 tons in mass, had a 270km range, and a non-separating nose cone with amass of 1.1 tons. The R-1 missile engine, RD-100, was created based on the German rocket engine at the Glushko KB. Liquid oxygen and alcohol were used as the propellant. Missile flight control was performed using aerodynamic vanes and gas control jets.

NIIs (Research Institutes) and KBs, as well as plants, took part in the creation of the R-1 missile. The first launch of the R-1 occurred on September 17, 1948. It failed. Because of a control system failure the missile deviated almost 50° from the flight line. Success came with an October 10, 1948 launch. In 1950, after completion of flight design tests, the R-1 missile was put into operation with its ground support complex.

Hand-in-hand with the creation of combat ballistic missiles, on Korolev's initiative, a program to research the upper atmosphere was developed in partnership with institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Based on the R-1 missile, R-1A, R-1B, R-1V, R-1E and other geophysical rockets were created. Using these rockets, comprehensive studies of the atmosphere up to an altitude of 100 km were carried out. On April 21, 1949 the first geophysical rocket, the R-1A, lifted two containers with scientific equipment to an altitude of 110 km, they were then recovered using parachutes.

Further work on ballistic missiles led to the R-2 in 1950. To increase the accuracy, the missile nosecone, 1.5 tons in mass, was made separable during flight. The R-2 range was 590 km with a launching mass of 20.3 tons. Thus, in 1951, a second missile complex was put into operation for the Soviet Army. Based on the R-2 missile, the R-2A geophysical rocket was created which performed atmospheric probes up to an altitude of 210 km.

In 1953 the first tactical missile using a storable propellant (nitric acid and hydro-carbon fuel), the R-1I, was created with a range of 270 km. The R-1 I's launch mass was 5.5 tons and the nose cone mass was 0.67 tons. The engine thrust was about 8 tons with the system propellant developed by the Isaev KB installed on the missile. The thrust vector control was performedby gas jet. The first launch of the R-1I missile occurred on April 18, 1953. In 1955 the missile was put into operation.

The R-1 I was the basis of development of the R-1IM and R-1IFM missiles. The R-1IM missile was designed to use a nose cone with a military nuclear charge. The first launch of the R-1IM missile was performed on December 30, 1955. A complex with R-IIM missiles was put into operation in 1958. The R-1IFM missile was designed to be launched from submarines. The R-1IFM was first launched from a swinging sea stand in May 1955, and then on September 16, 1955 from a submarine. The missile was launched from submarine above the water. The R-1IFM missile opened up a new trend of development in combat missiles - sea-based missiles - and was put into operation by the USSR Navy. Further work on sea-based missiles was transferred to a newly organized KB which was headed by V.P.Makeev, successor of S.P. Korolev. The missile was first launched from underwater on December 23, 1958.

Work on creation of ballistic long-range missiles continued at OKB-1 and, as a result of goal-oriented studies and experiments, the first strategic missile, the R-5, appeared. The first R-5launch was on March 15, 1953, with a range of 1200 km. A liquid oxygen and alcohol engine of 43.8 tons thrust at ground level was installed on the missile. Flight control was performed by gas jets and aerodynamic surfaces. In 1955, a modification of this missile, the R-5M, with a nuclear military charge in the nose cone, was developed. The first launch of the R-5M missile was on January 21, 1955 and its testing with a nuclear military charge was carried out on February 2, 1956. In 1956 the R-5M missile was put into operation.

In 1956, Korolev’s famous OKB-1 design bureau spun off from the main research institute, the NII-88 (pronounced “nee-88”) near Moscow, and assumed a leading position in the emerging Soviet space program.

Along with the R-5 and R-5M missiles, geophysical rockets R-5A, R-5B, R-5V, and R-5R were created and used to continue studies of the upper atmospheric layers and space, as well as to investigate advanced rocket performance. On February 21, 1958 the R-5V rocket lifted scientific equipment with a mass of 1520 kg to an altitude of 473 km - a record at the time. The creation of the two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7, was the outstanding achievement of Soviet rocket development. The launch mass of the R-7 missile was 280 tons. Unlike preceding missiles, the launching facilities for the R-7 missile were stationary. Launch of this missile from USSR territory could respond to nuclear attack from practically any point in possible enemy territory.

The first launch of the R-7 missile, on May 15, 1957, was a failure. The R-7 successfully flew to intercontinental range on August 21, !957. There was a special TASS report on this launch, which was the third after the flight tests began, informing the world that the Soviet Union had become the owner of this lethal weapon.

In January 1956, on S.P.Korolev's insistence, a decision was made to develop an artificial Earth satellite which could be launched by the R-7 missile. In May 1961 the USA proclaimed their Moon program and considered it their most important national task. The Soviet Union could not simply stand aside. In 1964, Korolev KB was entrusted by the government with the development of an analogous project.

In 1959, scientific-research and design projects for the RT-1 (8K95) solid-propellant medium-range missile and RT-2 (8K98) intercontinental missile got under way. Flight tests for the RT-1 were conducted from 1962 through 1963. The RT-1 was not put into service. Flight testing for the RT-2 began in 1966, and in 1968 the RT-2 went into service. The modified RT-2P (8K98P) solid-propellant missile underwent flight testing from 1970 to 1971, and in 1972 it was put into service. In all, over the course of its flight testing and duty, 100 launches of the RT-2 and its RT-2P modification were conducted. Missile systems using RT-2 and RT-2P missiles were on duty for more than 15 years. The RT-2 missile was the first Soviet solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. Aleksandr Nadiradze, the chief designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, continued to develop solid-propellant missile technology.

Automatic spy satellites equipped with cameras and special radio reconnaissance facilities were developed from 1959 through 1965. During this time, the first Zenit-2 spy satellite was developed, underwent flight testing, and was put into service and the Zenit-4 satellite was developed. In 1965, spy satellite projects were transferred to the OKB-1 branch in Kuybyshev.

In March 1966, after Korolev’s death, OKB-1 was renamed the Central Design Bureau of Experimental Machine Building (TsKBEM). After the death of Korolev, Vasily Mishin led OKB-1 - TSKBEM, having worked as chief designer until 1974. All these years – the period of creation of a new manned spacecraft "Soyuz", the world's first docking of two manned ships, flyby of the moon by four automatic machines "Zond", start of the world's first long-term orbital station "Salyut", set up jointly with the OKB Chelomeya - Vasily Pavlovich continued to write diaries.

The main subcontractors for engines, control systems, on-board and ground radio complexes, the ground-based launch complex, and dozens of other systems were the chief designers who had already fulfilled a multitude of other assignments and who continued to receive new projects pursuant to Central Committee and Council of Ministers decrees.

The reorientation of the Special Design Bureau Number One towards space science was initiated by S.P.Korolev's memo "On the Earth's Artificial Satellite" submitted to the Government in May 1954. The launch by our country of the Earth's first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957, ushered in the Space Age in mankind's history. After that event, the Special Design Bureau Number One and its subcontractors began living on a compressed time-scale. While the world was still astounded by the launch of the Earth's first artificial satellite, the company, concurrently with development of missiles, speeded up its work on the interplanetary probes for the study of near and deep space, the Moon, planets of the Solar System, on unmanned spacecraft for observing Earth's surface, and on space communications system based on Molniya satellites. All this work was being done along with addressing complex scientific, technological and logistical problems attendant upon the formation of new production facilities and providing support for the launch of a manned spacecraft.

April 12, 1961 became the day of triumph for the Human Mind. For the first time in history, a man-made vehicle with a human onboard emerged into the expanses of the Universe; for the first time in history, a human voice was heard from space, a voice of a citizen of planet Earth, our compatriot, Yuri Gagarin. It was a real exploit on the part of all the participants in this work.

At the same time, on the initiative of S.P.Korolev, an infrastructure was being established and developed for the newest branch of the domestic industry - the rocket and space industry which, in the ensuing years, was to become one of the most advanced and promising fields of science-intensive technologies. A characteristic feature of that phase was the creation in our country of companies specializing in individual fields of space science, which originated within the walls of the Special Design Bureau Number One, and then evolved into independent organizations. Later on, they became the prime organizations for those fields (missiles systems, communications systems, observation systems, etc.) and developed rocket and space systems that were at least on a par with the world's best technology, and in many cases even ahead of it. The development of rocket and space technology made it necessary to improve the governmental management structures in our country. In 1960, within the organizational structure of the Ministry of Defense, a new branch of military service, Strategic Missiles, was established, from which Military Space Force later emerged as a separate branch. In 1965 the Ministry of General Machine-building was established.

Paralleling this, both in time and from the standpoint of the tasks addressed, was the development of the rocket and space technology in the United States, with the work in both countries being a competition in the implementation of space research programs using manned and unmanned systems and spacecraft.