Chief designer OKB-1 1946 - 1966
Predecessor:	Position established
Successor:	Vasily Pavlovich Mishin
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Zhitomir city, Volyn province, Russian empire
Date of death:
A place of death:	Moscow, USSR
	Russian empire USSR
Scientific field:	Rocket science
Place of work:
Academic title:	Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958)
Alma mater:
Known as:	Founder of Soviet cosmonautics
Awards and prizes:

Arrest and work in closed design bureaus

Man in space

Orbital station project

Lunar project

Medical history and death

Official version

Details from memoirs

Funeral

Awards and titles

In philately

Interesting Facts

(December 30, 1906 (January 12, 1907), Zhitomir - January 14, 1966, Moscow) - Soviet scientist, designer and organizer of the production of rocket and space technology and missile weapons of the USSR, founder of practical cosmonautics. The largest figure of the 20th century in the field of space rocketry and shipbuilding.

S.P. Korolev is the creator of Soviet rocket and space technology, which ensured strategic parity and made the USSR an advanced rocket and space power. Is key figure in human space exploration. Thanks to his ideas, the first artificial Earth satellite and the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, were launched.

Twice Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin Prize, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Member of the CPSU since 1953. Lieutenant colonel.

Biography

S. P. Korolev was born on January 12, 1907 in the city of Zhitomir (then the Russian Empire, modern Ukraine) in the family of Russian literature teacher Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev (1877-1929) and Maria Nikolaevna Moskalenko (1888-1980). He was about three years old when his parents divorced. By the decision of his mother, little Seryozha was sent to Nezhin to his grandmother Maria Matveevna and grandfather Nikolai Yakovlevich Moskalenko.

In 1915 he entered the preparatory classes of the gymnasium in Kyiv, in 1917 he went to the first grade of the gymnasium in Odessa, where his mother, Maria Nikolaevna, and stepfather, Georgy Mikhailovich Balanin, moved.

I didn’t study at the gymnasium for long - it was closed, then there were four months of a unified labor school. Then he received his education at home - his mother and stepfather were teachers, and his stepfather, in addition to teaching, had an engineering education.

Even during his school years, Sergei was distinguished by exceptional abilities and an indomitable craving for the then new aviation technology. In 1922-1924 he studied at a construction vocational school, participating in many clubs and taking various courses.

In 1921, he met the pilots of the Odessa hydraulic squad and actively participated in aviation public life: from the age of 16 as a lecturer on eliminating aviation illiteracy, and from the age of 17 - as the author of the project for the K-5 non-motorized aircraft, which was officially defended before the competent commission and recommended for construction.

Having entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1924 with a specialization in aviation technology, Korolev mastered general engineering disciplines there in two years and became a glider athlete. In the fall of 1926, he was transferred to the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU) named after N. E. Bauman.

During his studies at the Moscow Higher Technical School, S.P. Korolev already gained fame as a young, capable aircraft designer and an experienced glider pilot. In 1955, Korolev wrote: “Back in 1929, I met K. E. Tsiolkovsky, and since then I have devoted my life to a new field of science.” From this trip, Sergei Pavlovich brought several works by Tsiolkovsky with a dedicatory inscription. This year, Korolev worked on his thesis - the project of the SK-4 aircraft, and on November 2, on the Firebird glider, he passed the exams for the title of soaring pilot. The aircraft he designed and built: the Koktebel and Krasnaya Zvezda gliders and the SK-4 light aircraft, designed to achieve a record flight range, showed Korolev’s extraordinary abilities as an aircraft designer. However, especially after meeting with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, he was fascinated by thoughts about flights into the stratosphere and principles jet propulsion. In September 1931, S.P. Korolev and a talented enthusiast in the field of rocket engines F.A. Tsander sought to create in Moscow, with the help of Osoaviakhim, a public organization - the Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion (GIRD): In April 1932, it became essentially a state scientific- design laboratory for the development of rocket aircraft, in which the first domestic liquid-ballistic missiles (BR) GIRD-09 and GIRD-10 are created and launched.

In 1933, on the basis of the Moscow GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL), the Jet Research Institute was created under the leadership of I. T. Kleimenov. Korolev was appointed his deputy. However, differences in views on the prospects for the development of rocket technology forced Korolev to leave this post. He, as the head of the rocket aircraft department, in 1936 managed to bring cruise missiles to testing: anti-aircraft-217 with a powder rocket engine and long-range-212 with a liquid rocket engine. By 1938, his department had developed designs for liquid-propelled cruise and long-range ballistic missiles, aircraft missiles for firing at air and ground targets, and solid-fuel anti-aircraft missiles.

Arrest and work in closed design bureaus

Korolev was arrested on June 27, 1938 on charges of sabotage after the arrest of Ivan Terentyevich Kleimenov and other employees of the Jet Institute. He was tortured. According to some reports, his jaw was broken during torture. The author of this version is journalist Ya. Golovanov. However, in his book he emphasizes that this is only a version:

In February 1988, I talked with corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Efuni. Sergei Naumovich told me about the 1966 operation, during which Sergei Pavlovich died. Efuni himself took part in it only at a certain stage, but, being at that time the leading anesthesiologist of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health, he knew all the details of this tragic event. Anesthesiologist Yuri Ilyich Savinov encountered an unforeseen circumstance, said Sergei Naumovich. - In order to give anesthesia, it was necessary to insert a tube, but Korolev could not open his mouth wide. He had fractures of two jaws... Did Sergei Pavlovich have his jaws broken? - I asked Korolev’s wife, Nina Ivanovna. “He never mentioned it,” she replied thoughtfully. “He really couldn’t open his mouth wide, and I remember: when he had to go to the dentist, he was always nervous ... Korolev writes clearly: “investigators Shestakov and Bykov subjected me to physical repression and abuse.” But I cannot prove that Nikolai Mikhailovich Shestakov broke the jaws of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Unfortunately, no one can prove this anymore. You can't even prove that you hit him. That he just pushed. I repeat again: I cannot prove anything, there is no such evidence in nature. I can only try to see. There is no other evidence confirming that Korolev’s jaw was broken during interrogations.

On September 25, 1938, Korolev was included in the list of persons subject to trial by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. On the list he was in the first (execution) category. The list was endorsed by Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov and Kaganovich.

This was a time of change in the leadership of the NKVD and repressions had already reduced their scope. Therefore, court decisions did not so blindly follow the recommendations of the NKVD. Korolev was convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on September 27, 1938, charge: Art. 58-7, 11. Sentence: 10 years of labor camp, 5 years of disqualification. On June 10, 1940, the term was reduced to 8 years in the ITL (Sevzheldorlag), released in 1944. Completely rehabilitated on April 18, 1957.

On April 21, 1939, he arrived in Kolyma, where he was located at the Maldyak gold mine of the Western Mining Administration and was engaged in so-called “general work.” On December 23, 1939, he was sent to the disposal of Vladlag.

He arrived in Moscow on March 2, 1940, where four months later he was tried a second time by a Special Meeting, sentenced to 8 years in prison and sent to the Moscow NKVD special prison TsKB-29, where, under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, also a prisoner, he took an active part in the creation Pe-2 and Tu-2 bombers and at the same time proactively developed projects for a guided aerial torpedo and a new version of a missile interceptor.

This was the reason for the transfer of S.P. Korolev in 1942 to another prison-type design bureau - OKB-16 at the Kazan aircraft plant No. 16 (now - Open Joint-Stock Company"Kazan Engine Production Association" /JSC KMPO/), where work was carried out on new types of rocket engines for the purpose of using them in aviation. Here S.P. Korolev, with his characteristic enthusiasm, devotes himself to the idea practical use rocket engines for the improvement of aviation: reducing the length of the aircraft's takeoff run during takeoff and increasing the speed and dynamic characteristics of aircraft during air combat. At the beginning of 1943, he was appointed chief designer of the group rocket launchers. Was engaged in improvement technical characteristics Pe-2 dive bomber, whose first flight took place in October 1943.

According to the memoirs attributed to L. L. Kerber, S. P. Korolev was a skeptic, a cynic and a pessimist, who looked absolutely gloomily at the future, “They will slam without an obituary,” was his favorite phrase. At the same time, there is a statement by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov regarding S.P. Korolev: “He was never embittered... He never complained, never cursed or scolded anyone. He didn't have time for that. He understood that embitterment does not cause creative impulse, but oppression."

In July 1944, S.P. Korolev was released early from prison with his criminal record expunged, after which he worked in Kazan for another year. On January 12, 2007, a high relief of S.P. was inaugurated on the building (entrance) of OJSC KMPO. Queen of work sculptor M. M. Gasimov.

Ballistic missile development

Speaking about the design of Soviet missiles that followed the R-1, it is difficult to distinguish between the time periods for their creation. So, Korolev was thinking about the R-2 back in Germany, when the R-1 project had not yet been discussed, he was developing the R-5 even before the delivery of the R-2, and even earlier, work began on the small mobile rocket R-11, and the first calculations for intercontinental missile R-7.

In August 1946, S.P. Korolev began working in Kaliningrad near Moscow (then renamed Korolev in 1996), where he was appointed chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles and head of department No. 3 of NII-88 for their development.

The first task set by the government to S.P. Korolev, as the chief designer, and all organizations involved in missile weapons, was to create an analogue of the V-2 rocket from domestic materials. But already in 1947, a decree was issued on the development of new ballistic missiles with a greater flight range than the V-2: up to 3000 km. In 1948, S.P. Korolev began flight design tests of the R-1 ballistic missile (analogous to the V-2) and in 1950 successfully put it into service.

During 1954 alone, Korolev was simultaneously working on various modifications of the R-1 rocket (R-1A, R-1B, R-1B, R-1D, R-1E), finishing work on the R-5 and planning five different modifications of it. , completes complex and responsible work on the R-5M missile - with a nuclear warhead. Work on the R-11 and its naval version R-11FM is in full swing, and the intercontinental R-7 is becoming more and more clear.

In 1956, under the leadership of S.P. Korolev, the first domestic strategic missile was created, which became the basis of the missile nuclear shield countries. In 1957, Sergei Pavlovich created the first ballistic missiles (mobile land-based and sea-based) using stable fuel components; he became a pioneer in these new and important areas of missile development.

In 1960, the first intercontinental missile R-7, which had two missile stages, entered service. This was also a victory for S.P. Korolev and his employees.

The first artificial satellite of the Earth

In 1955 (long before the flight tests of the R-7 rocket), S. P. Korolev, M. V. Keldysh, M. K. Tikhonravov came to the government with a proposal to launch an artificial Earth satellite into space using the R-7 rocket ). The government supported this initiative. In August 1956, OKB-1 left NII-88 and became an independent organization, the chief designer and director of which was appointed S.P. Korolev.

To implement manned flights and launch automatic space stations S.P. Korolev developed a family of perfect three-stage and four-stage launch vehicles based on a combat rocket.

On October 4, 1957, the first satellite in human history was launched into low-Earth orbit. His flight was a stunning success and created high international authority for the Soviet Union.

“It was small, this very first artificial satellite of our old planet, but its ringing call signs spread across all continents and among all peoples as the embodiment of the daring dream of mankind,” S.P. Korolev later said.

Postal envelopes

Other satellites and launches of spacecraft to the Moon

In parallel with the rapid development of manned space exploration, work is underway on satellites for scientific, economic and defense purposes. In 1958, a geophysical satellite was developed and launched into space, and then paired Electron satellites to study the Earth's radiation belts. In 1959, three automatic spacecraft were created and launched to the Moon. The first and second - for delivering a pennant to the Moon Soviet Union, the third for the purpose of photographing the far (invisible) side of the Moon. Subsequently, S.P. Korolev began developing a more advanced lunar apparatus for its soft landing on the surface of the Moon, photographing and transmitting a lunar panorama to Earth (object E-6).

Man in space

April 12, 1961 S.P. Korolev again amazes the world community. Having created the first manned spaceship"Vostok-1", it implements the world's first human flight - USSR citizen Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin in low-Earth orbit. Sergei Pavlovich is in no hurry to solve the problem of human exploration of outer space. The first spacecraft made only one orbit: no one knew how a person would feel in such a prolonged weightlessness, what psychological stress would affect him during an unusual and unexplored space journey. Following the first flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, on August 6, 1961, German Stepanovich Titov made a second space flight on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, which lasted one day. Again - a scrupulous analysis of the influence of flight conditions on the functioning of the body. Then the joint flight of the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft, piloted by cosmonauts A.G. Nikolaev and P.R. Popovich, from August 11 to 12, 1962; Direct radio communication was established between the astronauts. The following year - a joint flight of cosmonauts V.F. Bykovsky and V.V. Tereshkova on the Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 spacecraft from June 14 to 16, 1963 - the possibility of a woman flying into space is being studied. Behind them - from October 12 to 13, 1964 - in space a crew from three people various specialties: ship commander, flight engineer and doctor on the more complex Voskhod spacecraft. On March 18, 1965, during a flight on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with a crew of two, cosmonaut A. A. Leonov makes the world's first spacewalk in a spacesuit through the airlock chamber.

Orbital station project

Continuing to develop the program of manned near-Earth flights, Sergei Pavlovich begins to implement his ideas about the development of a manned DOS (long-term orbital station). Its prototype was a fundamentally new, more advanced than previous ones, Soyuz spacecraft. This ship included a living compartment where astronauts could for a long time be without spacesuits and conduct Scientific research. During the flight, automatic docking in orbit of two Soyuz spacecraft and the transfer of cosmonauts from one spacecraft to another through outer space in spacesuits were also envisaged. Sergei Pavlovich did not live to see his ideas implemented in the Soyuz spacecraft.

Lunar project

Back in the mid-1950s, Korolev hatched ideas for launching a man to the Moon. The corresponding space program was developed with the support of N. S. Khrushchev. However, this program was never implemented during Sergei Pavlovich’s lifetime due to the lack of unity of command (the program was developed under the leadership of the USSR Ministry of Defense, in which Korolev did not work), disagreements with the chief designer of rocket engines V.P. Glushko, as well as a change in the leadership of the CPSU - L.I. Brezhnev did not attach the same importance to the lunar program as Khrushchev. After the death of Sergei Pavlovich, the program for launching astronauts to the Moon was gradually curtailed. The Soviet lunar exploration program was subsequently carried out using unmanned spacecraft.

Medical history and death

Official version

• The official medical report was published on January 16, 1966. Is it true. 1966. No. 16 (17333).

“Medical report on the illness and cause of death of comrade Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.”

Comrade S.P. Korolev was sick with sarcoma of the rectum. In addition, he had: atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis, sclerosis of the cerebral arteries, pulmonary emphysema and metabolic disorders. S.P. Korolev underwent surgery to remove the tumor with extirpation of the rectum and part of the sigmoid colon. Death of Comrade S.P. Koroleva suffered from heart failure (acute myocardial ischemia).

Minister of Health of the USSR, full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor B.V. Petrovsky; full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor A. A. Vishnevsky; head of the surgical department of the hospital, associate professor, candidate of medical sciences D. F. Blagovidov; Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor A. I. Strukov; Head of the Fourth Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health, Honored Scientist, Professor A.M. Markov.

Details from memoirs

• Sergei Pavlovich was operated on by the Minister of Health of the USSR, full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor B.V. Petrovsky, and Petrovsky was assisted by the head of the surgical department, associate professor, candidate of medical sciences D.F. Blagovidov.
• It was not possible to stop the bleeding by removing the polyps. They decided to open the abdominal cavity. When they began to get to the site of the bleeding, they discovered a tumor the size of a fist. It was sarcoma - malignant tumor. Petrovsky decided to remove the sarcoma. At the same time, part of the rectum was removed. It was necessary to remove the remaining part through the peritoneum.
• Due to an untreated injury received in exile (according to the version, see above, the investigator broke Korolev’s jaw by hitting Sergei Pavlovich on the cheekbone with a decanter. Due to unsuccessful bone fusion, Korolev could not open his mouth wide enough even while eating), difficulties arose in tracheal intubation. They could not insert a breathing tube into his trachea correctly.

Funeral

The coffin with the body of the late S.P. Korolev was installed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. Access to farewell to the deceased was opened on January 17, 1966 from 12 noon to 8 pm.

• The funeral with state honors took place on Red Square in Moscow on January 18 at 13:00. The urn with the ashes of S.P. Korolev is buried in the Kremlin wall.

Family

After Korolev's death the following remained:

• his mother is Maria Nikolaevna Balanina;
• first wife - Ksenia Maximilianovna Vincentini, who had a daughter from him - Natalya;
• second wife - Nina Ivanovna.

Contribution

Sergei Korolev was the generator of many extraordinary ideas and the progenitor of outstanding design teams working in the field of rocket and space technology; his contribution to the development of domestic and world manned astronautics is decisive. One can only be amazed at the versatility of Sergei Pavlovich’s talent and his inexhaustible creative energy. He is a pioneer in many main areas of development of domestic missile weapons and rocket and space technology. It is difficult to even imagine what level she would have reached if the premature death of Sergei Pavlovich had not interrupted the creative flight of his thoughts.

In 1966, the USSR Academy of Sciences established gold medal named after S.P. Korolev “For outstanding achievements in the field of rocket and space technology.” Scholarships named after S. P. Korolev were established for higher education students educational institutions. Monuments to the scientist were erected in Zhitomir, Moscow, Baikonur, and other cities, and memorial house-museums were created. The Samara State Aerospace University, a city in the Moscow region, the streets of many cities, two research vessels, a high mountain peak in the Pamirs, a pass in the Tien Shan, an asteroid, a thalassoid on the Moon bear his name.

Awards and titles

• Twice Hero of Socialist Labor.
• He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor and medals.
• Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
• Lenin Prize laureate.
• Honorary citizen of the city of Korolev.

Memory

Named in honor of Korolev and bear his name:

• Science city Korolev, Moscow region (renamed in 1996 from “Kaliningrad”). The central avenue of this city also bears the name of Korolev.
• Crater on Mars.
• Crater on the far side of the Moon.
• Asteroid 1855 Korolev.
• Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia named after. S. P. Koroleva.
• SSAU - Samara State Aerospace University named after. Academician S.P. Korolev. In 2011, a bust of Sergei Korolev was installed near SSAU.
• Military Institute in Zhitomir.
• Medal named after S.P. Korolev, awarded by the Russian Cosmonautics Federation.
• Korolev Badge, departmental award of the Federal Space Agency.
• House of Culture named after S.P. Korolev in Kyiv.

In philately

Year of birth of Korolev postage stamps different - sometimes according to the old style, sometimes according to the new one.

Postage stamps and envelopes

• Following the stage from Butyrka prison to Kolyma, Korolev spent some time in Novocherkassk prison.
• Returning from Kolyma to Moscow, Korolev did not get on the Indigirka steamship in Magadan (due to all the seats being occupied). This saved Korolev’s life: while traveling from Magadan to Vladivostok, the steamship Indigirka was caught in a storm and sank off the island of Hokkaido.
• Soon after the war, the British demonstrated the launch of a German V-2 rocket (the launch was carried out by German specialists). On instructions from management, Korolev arrived under a false name, under the guise of an artillery captain Soviet army. But they forgot to provide him with the awards that front-line officers had. And representatives of British intelligence became very interested in this “captain”.
• Korolev were the first in the world to implement:
• launch of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space
• launching an artificial earth satellite into space,
• launching a satellite into space with a living creature - the dog Laika,
• launching a ballistic missile from a submarine.
• Korolev is the only person in the history of the USSR who received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor without being rehabilitated (the title was awarded on April 20, 1956, and rehabilitated on April 18, 1957).
• During his lifetime, Korolev’s name was considered secret. It was not mentioned either in the news during the launch of Sputnik or during Gagarin’s flight. Nevertheless, after his death, streets began to be named after Korolev, monuments were erected to him, and he himself was buried near the Kremlin wall. Soviet propaganda spoke of him as a brilliant scientist, the founder of astronautics, but kept silent about the fact of his arrest.

Movies

Feature and television

• Taming of Fire (film) - ("Bashkirtsev" - Kirill Lavrov).
• Running start - about the youth of S. P. Korolev, 1982.
• Alien ship (film) (Oleg Tabakov).
• Korolev (film) - (Sergei Astakhov).
• Battle for Space (TV series) (as Korolev - Steve Nicholson).
• “Cedar” pierces the sky (Igor Sklyar, 2011).
• Furtseva (TV series) (Alexey Yanin, 2011).

Documentary

• Sergey Korolev. Fate - creative workshop “Studio A”, “Channel One”, 2004.
• Liberation of the designer - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire Queen". Film 1st. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Trophy space - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire Queen". Film 2. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Inaccessible Moon - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire Queen". Film 3. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Tsar Rocket. Interrupted flight - Roscosmos TV studio, TV Center, 2006.
• The world consists of stars and people - TV Channel Culture, 2006.
• The first on Mars. The unsung song of Sergei Korolev - Roscosmos television studio, 2007.
• Sergei Korolev. Knocking on Heaven - Prospekt TV studio, Channel One, 2007.
• Sergiy Korolov - NTU, 2007, (in Russian-Ukrainian language).
• Five deaths of Academician Korolev - Studio “07 Production”, TV channel “Inter”, 2009, (in Russian-Ukrainian language).
• Korolev. Countdown - NTV channel, 2010.
• Sergey Korolev. Life at cosmic speed - Roscosmos television studio, Russian Space program, Russia-2 TV channel, 2011.

We continue to publish materials on the development of domestic astronautics. Today our story is dedicated to Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Thanks to his talent as a scientist and the character of a commander, world science and technology were enriched with many wonderful discoveries, and a huge contribution was made to space exploration.

Childhood and adolescence

In the Ukrainian town of Zhitomir, a son was born in the family of engineer Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev in 1907. But soon after Seryozha’s birth, the family broke up, and his mother gave her little son to the care of her parents in Nizhyn. Here A five-year-old boy saw an airplane fly for the first time. The turns of a huge, man-made bird, controlled by man, captured his imagination.

Soon Sergei, his mother and stepfather settled in Odessa. Teenager spent hours watching seaplanes fly over the sea, cherishing the dream of flying. The pilots noticed an inquisitive, smart boy and soon he became a reliable assistant to the mechanic of the hydraulic squad. And finally the day came when he was allowed to take off in a seaplane. The impressions of the flight only strengthened his desire to connect his life with aeronautics.

Seryozha studied at home under the guidance of his stepfather and mother, I read a lot about aviation. He entered school only at the age of 15. He studied with pleasure, impressing his teachers with his excellent memory and clear thinking. Already at this age he was distinguished by his organization, combining study, work, sport sections and even music. His every day was planned down to the minute, but when a gliding circle opened in the city, the young man became an active participant. And a year later he presented his first project of a non-motorized aircraft.

Birth of a dream

In the 1930s, interest in extra-atmospheric flights and space in general appeared in Russia. A society of interplanetary flight enthusiasts organized in Moscow. He becomes an honorary member of society. His idea of ​​making extra-stratospheric flights on jet vehicles was fueled by science fiction novels, giving rise to new bold ideas and projects.

In 1930, a meeting between Sergei Korolev and K. E. Tsiolkovsky took place. The conversation between these two people predetermined not only the fate of the future general designer, but also the entire space industry. Parting with Tsiolkovsky, he was already firmly convinced - from now on, the meaning of his life will be the creation of rockets and flight to other celestial bodies. The young man was especially attracted by the Red Planet - Mars. Since then, he has subordinated his every step to the fulfillment of this dream.

At the Moscow Institute, where Sergei studied, lectures on aircraft engineering were given by the famous aircraft designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev. He noticed a talented student and took him for an internship at his design bureau, becoming the head of his graduation project. Their friendship and cooperation continued for many years.

First rocket

In the newly created GIRD group during these years, which united rocketry enthusiasts, Sergei headed the technical council. Here On his life's path he meets a true like-minded person - F.A. Zander. For a whole year, their youth team worked for free, devoting all their time and energy to the new business. Two years later, the first liquid Soviet rocket took off into the sky. In 18 seconds, it moved 400m away from its home planet. And even though her life's journey was short-lived. But it was a success! This means they are on the right track.

Arrest and work in closed design bureaus

The year 1933 brought good news to the Girdovites - the Jet Research Institute was created. The work on creating rockets has entered a qualitatively new level.

But wave of repression, which swept across the country in 1937, overwhelmed many prominent specialists in the aviation industry. In 1938, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was also arrested. Many hours interrogations and unbearable living conditions did not break him. On the wall of Butyrka prison he left calculations for his first radio-controlled rocket.

After 2 years, Korolev ends up in a new place of detention - a Moscow special prison, where works together with Tupolev in the prison design bureau on the design of new bombers and guided aerial torpedoes. “Zeks” are first-class engineers and designers who worked with great dedication on defense orders.

A year before the end of the war, Korolev is released. And already in 1945 he was appointed chief technical director of the research institute for the study of the German V-2 rocket.

Missiles are defense and science

For this purpose, Korolev and a group of Soviet specialists are sent to Germany. Where the British organized an exhibition of these newest weapons of the Wehrmacht. Thorough Study V-2, it was necessary to build its complete analogue, but from domestic materials. The task was completed.

The Soviet equivalent of the missile was known as the R-1. But Korolev’s design ideas work tirelessly. With his enthusiasm and efficiency, he infects the entire team working on the order. Sergey Pavlovich is designing a missile capable of hitting targets at a distance of 600 km.

The arms race that unfolded against the backdrop of the Cold War showed the need to create intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear charge. Korolev brilliantly solves this problem. Thanks to his scientific genius the military industry was equipped with medium- and intercontinental-range missiles. They became the basis of the USSR's nuclear missile shield. It was followed by more advanced models with a flight range of up to 3000 km.

Space Assault

Working on orders from the War Ministry, Sergei Pavlovich never never parted with the dream of human space flight. In parallel with his work in the defense industry, he uses the vertical launch of R-1 and R-5 rockets to study near space and the influence of various cosmic factors on highly developed animals. The means of their life support and return to earth were worked out very carefully. Thus he laid the foundation for human space flight.

The space age of mankind dates back to October 4, 1957. It was on this day that he began his journey around his home planet. For two weeks, radio amateurs around the world listened with bated breath to his call signs.

In two years The first rocket launches towards the Moon, the next one delivers a pennant with the coat of arms of the USSR to its surface, photographs the side of our satellite invisible from Earth and transmits the pictures to Earth.

And on April 12, 1961, the whole world rejoiced when it learned about the fantastic news -. The first spaceship made only one revolution, because no one imagined how weightlessness and psychological stress would affect a person. This was followed by longer flights with various tasks and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov going into outer space.

Sergei Pavlovich is very treated the astronauts with care, often talked with them, highly appreciated their courage and dedication to the profession.

Under the leadership of Korolev, projects for interplanetary stations and satellites were developed for various purposes, new spaceships. The pinnacle of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev’s design thought was the flight of ships to Mars and Venus, the creation of the Molniya-1 communications satellite.

So this outstanding designer, an excellent organizer, step by step, realized his youthful dream - an assault on space.

Invisible Man

He passed away the day before his 59th birthday in 1966. And only then did the country and the whole world learn the name and surname of the person whom the press, radio and television were simply called General Designer. The secrecy regime has been lifted.

During his lifetime, Academician Korolev was awarded two orders of Hero of Socialist Labor. Recognition of his enormous services to humanity were monuments erected in his homeland, in the Moscow region, where the great designer built ships and at the cosmodrome, where the road to the Universe began.

History does not know a person who loved the sky more intensely and devotedly.

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This material discusses short biography of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev- outstanding designer of the rocket and space industry. Influenced Sergei Koroleva There was a technological breakthrough for all of humanity. Under his leadership, the first artificial satellite entered Earth's orbit, the first manned flight into space took place, and the first man walked into outer space.

The childhood and youth of the great designer.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was born on January 12, 1907 in the city of Zhitomir in the North-West of Ukraine. Father (Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev) and mother (Maria Nikolaevna Balanina (Moskalenko)) were teachers. The father left the family when Sergei Korolev was 3 years old. For a long time the child lived with his grandparents. In 1917 he went to the first grade of a gymnasium in Odessa, where his mother and his stepfather (Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin) moved. The gymnasium was soon closed, and the child received home education. His stepfather, like his mother, Korolev, was a teacher and also had an education as an engineer. Sergei showed exceptional interest in aviation technology. In 1921 Having met the Odessa pilots, he began to show active position in the aviation community. Already at the age of 16, Korolev gave lectures on eliminating aviation illiteracy.

Student years

In 1924 he entered the Kiev Polytechnic Institute majoring in aviation technology. During his 2 years of study there, he mastered basic engineering disciplines and became a glider athlete. In the fall of 1926, Korolev is transferred to the Moscow Higher Technical School (Moscow Higher Technical School) named after Bauman. While studying at Moscow Higher Technical School, he actively developed as an aircraft designer and glider pilot. On November 2, 1929, he passed the exam for the title of soaring pilot. In the same year, he defended his diploma on the SK-4 aircraft under the guidance of Tupolev.

Korolev's interest in jet propulsion and career

In 1929 after becoming acquainted with Tsiolkovsky and his works, he begins to take an active interest in the topic of jet propulsion. In 1931 Korolev and a group of enthusiasts led by inventor Friedrich Zander create public organization"Jet Propulsion Study Group" (GIRD). As a joke, the acronym GIRD was deciphered as a group of engineers working for nothing, since the group members did not receive money for their work for a long time. The work was based on enthusiasm and love for the job. In 1932 GIRD essentially becomes a research and development laboratory for the development and production of rocket aircraft. August 17, 1933 their first rocket was successfully launched. After that, in the same year, on the basis of the GIRD operating in Moscow, in which Korolev worked, and the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL), with the support of Marshal Tukhachesky, a jet research institute was formed. While working there, Korolev became the head of the rocket aircraft department in 1935 and was the deputy director of the research institute. He worked on the development of rocket aircraft, but in 1938, due to disagreements with his superiors, Korolev was transferred to the ordinary position of senior engineer. Subsequently, this event saves him from execution.

Arrest and serving sentence

Active repressions began in the highest military ranks. Marshal Tukhachesky was arrested and shot. Everyone associated with this case came under suspicion. Korolev was arrested on June 27, 1938 on suspicion of sabotage. According to the verdict of guilty by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR in the fall of 1938, Korolev was sentenced to 10 years in a forced labor camp.
Korolev ended up in Kolyma, where he worked at the Maldyak gold mine. Later in 1940 he was sent to Moscow, where the case was reviewed and the sentence was reduced to 8 years in correctional camps. However, on the instructions of Tupolev, Korolev was not sent to the camps, but continued to work, fulfilling a military order for the design of missiles. First in a Moscow special prison, then during the war in the Kazan prison-type design bureau. Korolev noted significant achievements during his work. Summer 1944 Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was released early from prison with his criminal record expunged on the personal orders of Stalin. After that, he worked for another year in Kazan as a designer of rocket launchers. .

Development of missile weapons.

After the war, the country needed weapons of a new level. Summer 1946 Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was appointed Chief Designer of the specially created “Special Design Bureau No. 1”. The bureau was engaged in the development of long-range ballistic missiles. The first task set before Korolev was to create a copy of the German V-2 rocket. Reality showed that the Soviet industry of that time was not capable of producing weapons of the required level of quality. The process of formation of the newest space industry took place gradually. Under Korolev’s leadership, the R-1, R-2, R-5 missiles and the intercontinental ballistic R-7 were developed, which became the mainstay of the USSR’s missile armament for the coming years. September 16, 1955 The world's first ballistic missile was launched from a Soviet submarine.

Space exploration under the leadership of chief designer Sergei Korolev

In 1955 S.P. Korolev and his associates came to the government with a proposal to launch an artificial Earth satellite into orbit using the R-7 rocket. The government approved the initiative and October 4, 1957 The world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched and put into orbit. " He was small, this very first artificial satellite of our old planet, but his sonorous call signs spread across all continents and among all peoples as the embodiment of the daring dream of mankind", Korolev said later about the launched satellite. Afterwards, active space exploration began under the leadership of the chief designer. Korolev led and organized the work of people in the previously non-existent space industry. November 3, 1957 The dog Laika was launched into space. October 4, 1959 was launched to the moon spacecraft, which made it possible to photograph the far side of the Moon, which no one had ever seen on Earth before. April 12, 1961 The first human flight into space takes place. On the Vostok-1 spacecraft, designed by Korolev, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew in orbit around the Earth.
On March 18, 1965, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft took off with cosmonauts Leonov and Belyaev on board. During this flight, a person for the first time left the confines of a spacecraft and went into outer space. Korolev also hatched projects to create the world’s first orbital station and land a man on the Moon.

Death of a great designer

January 14, 1966 Korolev had to undergo a simple operation to remove polyps in the intestines. They operated on him best doctors USSR of that time. After the polyps were removed, Korolev began to bleed heavily and doctors were forced to open the abdominal cavity. As a result, a malignant tumor was discovered. The decision was made to remove it. The tumor was removed, but Korolev’s heart could not withstand such high loads from the operation and stopped. It was decided to bury the ashes of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev near the Kremlin wall along with other great figures of our page. There he remains to this day. To summarize briefly all Queen's biography, we can say that a person worked hard and enthusiastically all his life and was able to contribute tangible contribution to history.
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Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was the first who managed to conquer outer space.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev - outstanding Soviet designer and a scientist of the 20th century, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, founder of cosmonautics, creator of programs and a leading specialist in the field of rocketry and shipbuilding.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, born in Zhitomir, December 30, 1906. In 1917, his mother and stepfather, a mechanical engineer, moved to Odessa, a port on the Black Sea. Sergei began to take an interest in aviation technology when he school years, showed exceptional abilities and ingenuity in classes in circles, and in 1921 he participated in the life of the Odessa hydraulic squad. At the age of seventeen, he designed and defended before a state commission the K-5 non-motorized aircraft, which was subsequently recommended for construction.

Birth of a dream

After graduating from the Odessa Construction Vocational School, in 1924 he was admitted to the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, where he joined the glider club and developed the first airplane. Two years later, Korolev transferred to the Moscow Higher Technical School (MVTU) named after N.E. Bauman, the best engineering institute in Russia. He became a student of Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev, a famous aircraft manufacturer, and in December 1929, under the leadership of Tupolev, defended thesis- a project of a light aircraft SK-4 designed to achieve a record flight range. The aircraft designed during his studies at the institute—the Koktebel and Krasnaya Zvezda gliders and the graduation project for the SK-4 aircraft—showed Korolev’s abilities as a competent engineer and aircraft designer.

In 1929, he met with K.E. Tsiolkovsky, who advised him to take up space flight, gave him the book “Space Rocket Trains” and recommended contacting Friedrich Arturovich Zander, an engineer at TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute).

1931 Sergei Korolev and Friedrich Zander founded the Moscow public organization “Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion” (GIRD). Already in April 1932, the group became a state research and development laboratory for rocket aircraft. Sergei Korolev's leadership of flight tests contributed to the successful launch of a liquid-fuel rocket - GIRD-09, August 17, 1933.

The Soviet leadership, understanding the military potential in the research and development of rocketry for the defense capability of the Soviet Union, decided to merge the GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL). In 1933, the Jet Research Institute (RNII) was created, led by I.T. Kleymenov. Korolev was appointed deputy with the rank of division engineer (the abbreviated title for the position of division engineer and military rank senior command staff in the Red Army).

1935 Korolev - head of the rocket aircraft department; within a year, tests of cruise missiles were being carried out: long-range - with a liquid rocket engine and anti-aircraft - with a powder rocket engine. The department is busy working on winged and ballistic missiles long-range, missiles, air-launched, for firing at air and ground targets and anti-aircraft solid-fuel missiles.
However, the views of Korolev and the institute’s management did not coincide with the prospects for the development of rocketry. Sergey Pavlovich leaves the post of deputy director of the RNII and goes to work as a senior engineer.

S.P. Korolev continued to work on the design of the first manned jet rocket plane by upgrading the basic two-seat glider SK-9. Fuel tanks were designed behind the cockpit and a RDA-1-150 hp liquid-propellant jet engine was installed. The start of flights of the first Soviet rocket plane was convincingly proven - the Soviet Union had reached a level in rocket engine construction where the production of rocket planes with liquid propellant engines for industry had become commonplace.

The significance of this project is not that it was the first step in the era of jet aviation, but the beginning in the conquest of outer space.

Arrest. Closed KBs

Repression in the Soviet Union, which gained momentum in the late thirties of the twentieth century, also reached the rocket scientists. Fate was predicted at the moment when Mikhail Tukhachevsky was arrested and destroyed - whose patronage and attention was manifested in solving the problems of GIRD and RNII.

The head of the RNII, Ivan Kleimenov, and the chief engineer of the RNII, Georgy Langemak, were arrested and disappeared into the dungeons. In March 1938, engine designer Valentin Glushko was arrested on a false denunciation.

Sergei Korolev was taken into custody on June 27, 1938. Why was Sergei Pvlovich Korolev convicted and in prison? The indictment stated: “since 1935, he was a member of a Trotskyist sabotage organization, on whose instructions he carried out criminal work at NII-3 to disrupt the development and delivery of new types of weapons to the Red Army,” in particular:

...- in 1936 he led the development of a gunpowder winged torpedo; Knowing in advance that the main parts of this torpedo - devices with photocells - for controlling the torpedo and pointing it at the target, cannot be manufactured by the central laboratory of wired communications, Korolev, in order to load the institute unnecessary work intensively led the development of the missile part of this torpedo in 2 versions;

...- As a result of this, tests of four torpedoes built by Korolev showed their complete unsuitability, which caused damage to the state in the amount of 120,000 rubles
and the development of other, more relevant topics has been delayed;

...- in 1937, when developing the side compartment of a torpedo (winged), he made a sabotage calculation, as a result of which research work on the creation of a torpedo was disrupted;

...- artificially delayed the production and testing of defense facilities. They accused him of developing a solid-fuel rocket in order to delay the development of more important areas. Prevented the creation of an effective power system for the on-board autopilot of the rocket. He developed obviously unusable engines.

He pleaded guilty, but subsequently recanted his testimony.

The Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Ulrich, sentenced Korolev to 10 years in prison with disqualification for five years and confiscation of personal property. After a long stage of railway and by sea on April 21, 1939, Sergei Pavlovich arrived in Kolyma, and since August he has been working at the Maldyak gold mine.

The leadership of the Soviet Union recognized the need for engineering developments by aircraft manufacturers to prepare for a possible war with Nazi Germany. The country has created a system of “sharashkas” (prison design bureaus) to exploit imprisoned “talent” capable of creating new weapons for the Red Army.

For reviewing the case of S.P. Korolev’s mother, M.N., fought. Balanin, with the support of the famous pilots M.M. Gromov and V.S. Grizodubova. On March 2, 1940, by a special meeting, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison and sent to the Moscow NKVD special prison TsKB-29, where he was headed by A.N. Tupolev, also a prisoner, participated in the creation of the Pe-2 and Tu-2 bombers and at the same time proactively developed projects for a guided aerial torpedo and a new version of a missile interceptor.

After the end of World War II, Korolev was sent to Germany to study the Nazi V-2 rockets and other rocket technologies. In August 1946, he was appointed chief designer for the long-range ballistic missile project.

After Stalin's death in 1953, Korolev joined the Communist Party and received the support of leader and compatriot Nikita Khrushchev, who understood the prospects for development and improvement military program missile potential for the USSR. On April 1, 1953, Korolev received approval from the Council of Ministers to create the first two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the R-7. The following year, a proposal to launch artificial satellites into Earth orbit was also approved.

​Artificial Earth satellite (AES)

The Korolev R-7 launch vehicle launched the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit on October 4, 1957.

“It was small, this very first artificial satellite of our old planet, but its ringing call signs spread across all continents and among all peoples as the embodiment of the daring dream of mankind,” S.P. later said. Korolev.

Sputnik launch raised US concerns that the Soviet Union was poised to attack the United States nuclear weapons using ballistic missiles, thus began the “Space Race” between the USSR and the USA.

In 1959, Korolev participated in the preparation and launch of lunar probes to the Moon. Based on the results of these missions, preparations began for sending a Soviet cosmonaut to the Moon. Korolev identified three tasks, the solution of which would yield a result - the conquest of the Moon.

First goal was achieved when the Vostok 1 spacecraft launched the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961, proving that human space flight was possible.
August 1961. G.S. Titov made his second space flight on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, which lasted a day.
August 1962. Joint flight of the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft, piloted by cosmonauts A.G. Nikolaev and P.R. Popovich; direct radio communication was established between the astronauts.
June 1963. Joint flight of cosmonauts V.F. Bykovsky and V.V. Tereshkova on the Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 spacecraft
The world's first spacewalk took place on March 18, 1965 during the flight of the Voskhod 2 spacecraft with a crew of two. Astronaut A.A. Leonov, wearing a spacesuit, went out through the airlock and was outside the ship for about 20 minutes.

Second goal was to create lunar vehicles that could land softly on the surface of the Moon.

Third task was to create a powerful launch vehicle to send astronauts and cargo to the Moon.
Sergei Korolev began work on the N-1 launch vehicle, comparable to the American Saturn V launch vehicle, in 1962. This rocket was supposed to launch up to 90 tons into low-Earth orbit, but four test launches of the N-1 were unsuccessful.

In July 1969, American ship Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, with the first astronauts on board.

In 1974, the Soviet manned lunar landing program was closed, and in 1976, work on the N-1 was also officially closed.

Personal life of S.P. Queen

Sergei Korolev was married twice. He first married in August 1931 to classmate Ksenia Vincentini, and in 1935 she gave birth to his daughter. Natalia Sergeevna (1935), Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, State Prize laureate, wrote the book " Father".

Sergei Korolev with his wife Ksenia and daughter

In 1948, the family broke up.

He met his second wife, Nina Ivanovna Kotenkova, who was a translator at NII-88, at work.

Health S.P. Korolev's condition began to deteriorate in 1960 and on January 14, 1966, he died after a minor operation. Perhaps the cause of Korolev’s death was a weakened immune system, which never recovered after imprisonment and torture during the years of repression.

The death was a blow to the Soviet space program: a loss that is irreplaceable.

During his lifetime, Academician Korolev was awarded two orders of Hero of Socialist Labor. Recognition of his enormous services to humanity were monuments erected in his homeland, in the Moscow region, where the great designer built ships and at the cosmodrome, where the road to the Universe began.

Urn with the ashes of S.P. The queen is buried in the Kremlin wall.

Quotes from Sergei Pavlovich Korolev

• People will fly into space on trade union vouchers.
• The time will come when a spaceship with people will leave the Earth and go on a journey. A reliable bridge from Earth to space has already been built by the launch of Soviet artificial satellites, and the road to the stars is open!
• Order frees thought.
• If you criticize someone else's, offer your own. If you suggest, do it.
• A rocket underwater is absurd. But that's why I'm going to do this.
• You can do it quickly, but poorly, or you can do it slowly, but well. After a while, everyone will forget that it was fast, but they will remember that it was bad. And vice versa.

Memory of the designer S.P. Korolev

By Presidential Decree Russian Federation No. 1020 of July 8, 1996
"Supporting the appeal of collectives of enterprises and organizations of the city of Kaliningrad, Moscow region, as well as the city administration" city of Kaliningrad
Moscow region was renamed the city of Korolev.

Monuments to S.P. Korolev was installed in many cities in Russia and the world: Moscow, Korolev (Moscow region) on Korolev Avenue, Taganrog, a bust in Samara near the Korolev National Research University, Cheboksary, on Korolev Avenue in St. Petersburg, Omsk, on Baikonur (Kazakhstan) , Kyiv (Ukraine), Zhitomir (Ukraine).

Airbus Airbus A321 (VQ-BEI) “S. Korolev" Aeroflot airline.

Films about Sergei Pavlovich Korolev

Feature and television

• I'm going to look, 1966.
• Taming of Fire, 1972.
• Running start - about the youth of S.P. Koroleva, 1982.
• Gagarin. First in space, 2013.
• Main, 2015.
• Time of the First, 2017.

Documentary

• Empire Korolev
• Sergey Korolev. Destiny - creative workshop “Studio A”, “Channel One”, 2004.
• Liberation of the designer - TV company "Civilization", series "Korolev's Empire". Film 1st. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Trophy space - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire of Korolev". Film 2. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Inaccessible Moon - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire of Korolev". Film 3. TV channel Culture, 2006.
• Tsar Rocket. Interrupted flight - Roscosmos TV studio, TV Center, 2006.

Twice Hero of Socialist Labor
Lenin Prize laureate
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences

“What seemed impossible for centuries, what yesterday was just a daring dream, today becomes a real task, and tomorrow - an accomplishment!” S.P.Korolev

Sergei Korolev was born on January 12, 1907 in Ukraine, in Zhitomir, in the family of a literature teacher.

His father Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev graduated with honors from the Nezhin Historical and Philological Institute and received the title of gymnasium teacher. However, life together with Sergei’s mother, Maria Nikolaevna Moskalenko, did not work out for him. Soon after moving to Kyiv, his parents separated, and Sergei Korolev was brought up in the family of his mother’s parents in Nizhyn. Grandfather and grandmother loved their grandson very much and doted on him.

In Nezhin in 1911, Sergei first saw the Russian pilot Utochkin fly in an airplane, and this event shocked the imagination of the impressionable boy. I didn’t remember Korolev’s father. He was raised by his mother, a teacher, and his stepfather, engineer Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin. In 1917, Sergei and his mother moved to Odessa to live with his stepfather. In 1921, a detachment of seaplanes HYDRO-3 of the Main Directorate of the Air Force appeared in Odessa. Sergei watched their flights over the sea, dreaming of taking them into the sky. The incident brought the teenager together with hydraulic unit mechanic Vasily Dolganov. A new acquaintance, digging into the engine, explained to Sergei what was what. After the first “lecture” the “practice” began. He spent all the summer time in the hydraulic detachment, helping prepare planes for flight. Korolev became an indispensable, trouble-free assistant to mechanics and pilots.

He was not able to obtain a secondary general education immediately, since there were no conditions for this. Korolev graduated from a two-year vocational construction school. Sergei studied diligently. The class teacher told his mother Maria Nikolaevna about him: “A guy with a king in his head.” All this time, Korolev continued to participate in the life of the hydroaviation detachment. Under the patronage of Dolganov, Sergei once took off in a seaplane, which was piloted by the detachment commander, and decided to become a pilot. At the same time, Sergei gained the reputation of a real mechanic. He also spent hours working in the school workshop where wooden products were made. The “carpentry school” was very useful to Sergei when he started building gliders.

In 1923, the government appealed to the people to build their own Air fleet. The Aviation and Aeronautics Society of Ukraine and Crimea (OAVUK) was born in Ukraine.

Korolev immediately became a member of this society and began studying in one of its gliding circles. He lectured workers on gliding. Korolev acquired knowledge on gliding and aviation history on his own by reading books, including those in German. Sergei Korolev, thanks to his stepfather and construction school teacher Gottlieb Karlovich Ave, who taught lessons in German, knew German quite well. Knowledge of the language was firmly attached to him for the rest of his life.

When the construction of a glider designed by the famous military pilot K.A. Artseulov began in the OAVUK workshops, Sergei Korolev also took part in the work on it. In April 1924, he participated in the first conference of glider pilots in Odessa. At this time, in May, an event very important for the history of astronautics took place in Moscow - the world's first Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications (SIMS) was founded. Felix Dzerzhinsky and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky were elected honorary members. The main task of this society was to promote the work of transatmospheric flights using jet vehicles and other scientifically based means."

It should be noted that in late XIX and at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there was a high interest in space. It was fueled by science fiction writers. Capturing minds, they contributed to the emergence of scientific and technical ideas. Tsiolkovsky created the cosmic work “Exploration of World Spaces by Reactive Instruments,” publishing it in 1903. In it, the scientist first developed the theory of jet propulsion and, on its basis, proved that a liquid-fuel rocket of the design he proposed was capable of achieving the speed necessary to overcome gravity.

People read the fantastic story “Outside the Earth” by Tsiolkovsky and especially Tolstoy’s novel “Aelita”. Long queues lined up at cinemas and clubs where the film based on this work was shown. The audience warmly applauded engineer Mstislav Los and Red Army soldier Alexei Gusev, who dared to go to Mars. It was fantastic. But there lived a real Los, who developed the spaceship-airplane - our compatriot Friedrich Arturovich Zander, a follower of Tsiolkovsky’s ideas. Another engineer, Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk, a theorist of astronautics, was pondering the work “For those who will read in order to build.” But Sergei Korolev has not yet read either Tsiolkovsky or Zander, and has not heard anything about Kondratyuk. They will come into his life later.

While after graduating from school, Sergei worked as a carpenter, covering roofs with tiles, and later began working at a machine in production. The Chief Designer's work experience began at the age of sixteen. “I will be a builder... but only of airplanes,” Korolev said in those years. Maria Nikolaevna in her heart opposed her son’s passion, expressing fears about the danger of his chosen life path. The sensible stepfather, on the contrary, treated him calmly. Sergei found support for his aspirations in his stepfather.

Sergei dreamed of studying at the Air Force Academy in Moscow. But it accepted people who had served in the Red Army and were over 18 years old. Sergei could have been helped by a certificate from the Odessa Gubernia Department of the OAVUK about the submission to the aviation technical department of the project of the K-5 motorless aircraft he designed, which Maria Nikolaevna brought to the leadership of the academy along with a petition for her son. However, uncertainty regarding admission to the Moscow Academy remained. And Sergei decided to enter the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, where at that time it was planned to begin training aviation engineers at the mechanical faculty.

Among the students of the Faculty of Mechanics, Sergei was considered one of the youngest and most educated. At the same time, he worked and was everything during these years: a newspaper delivery man, a loader, a carpenter, and a roofer. But still he could barely make ends meet. In a letter to his mother in Odessa, Sergei wrote: “I get up early in the morning, at about five o’clock. I run to the editorial office, pick up newspapers, and then run to Solomenka, deliver them. So I earn eight karbovanets. And I’m even thinking about renting a corner.”

There was a gliding circle at the institute. His work was followed and helped by many prominent scientists who taught at the KPI. Sergei Korolev became its member. He worked, like everyone else, hard and enthusiastically. Often at night. Korolev sometimes slept right in the workshop on wood shavings. He loved to work and was known as a jack of all trades. After that, nothing was ever redone. The gliders built in the institute's workshops participated in international competitions, receiving the highest marks. The circle members had a rule: whoever built the glider flew on it.

The KPIR-3 training glider was built, and Korolev contributed his share of his labor to it. Sergei flew on it. One of the flights almost cost him his life. At the border of the site - a wasteland where gliders were tested, a water pipe protruded from a pile of garbage. Sergei did not notice and landed the glider on it. The blow was strong enough and Korolev lost consciousness for some time.

In 1926, after studying for two years at the KPI, Sergei Korolev transferred to Moscow to a special evening group on aeromechanics at the Moscow Higher Technical School. During the day he worked either in a design bureau or at an aircraft factory, and studied in the evening. By this time, my mother and stepfather had moved to Moscow. Korolev aspired to aviation. As soon as he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School, Sergei immediately became involved in the work of the student group AKNEZH - Academic Circle named after Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky. Engineers and scientists gave lectures there.

In January 1927, the grand opening of the Moscow Glider School took place in the Gorki Leninskikh area. Sergei Korolev also became her cadet. He flew a lot and willingly, mastering new types of gliders. In March 1927, Sergei graduated from gliding school with honors. Sergei Korolev was especially looking forward to the lectures of aviation designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev, whose planes were already flying across the sky by that time. He taught students a course on aircraft construction.

In May 1927, at the international exhibition of interplanetary vehicles, Sergei first became acquainted with the works of Zander and Tsiolkovsky’s brochure “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments.” Books, drawings, diagrams, handicraft models - everything that was shown at the exhibition sank into Korolev’s consciousness. He began to pay more attention to rockets and space flights.

A graduate student at the Moscow Higher Technical University, Korolev, completed his industrial practice at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), at the Tupolev Design Bureau. At this time he was already working at an aircraft factory in Fili. At the same time, he was preparing his graduation project, deciding to design a light-engine two-seater aircraft SK-4.

The design of the SK-4 aircraft, designed for a record flight range, turned out to be original, thought out to the smallest detail and worked out at the level of a mature specialist. Tupolev himself became the project manager, signing it from the first presentation. This has never happened in the students' practice. The rigor and thoroughness of the designer were known. The design of the single-engine, two-seater SK-4 aircraft, approved by Tupolev, was then built and tested.

In September 1929, Sergei Korolev and his colleague Sergei Lyushin presented an unusual glider at the VI All-Union Glider Competition in Koktebel, approximately 50-90 kilograms heavier than its counterparts. At that time it was believed that the smaller the airframe, the better. A test flight on the Koktebel was made by K.K. Artseulov, reporting to the members of the technical commission: “The glider is well balanced. It obeys the rudders well. It can be cleared for flights.” Twenty-two-year-old Korolev set a soaring record on the Koktebel glider. He hovered in the air for more than four hours.

In October 1930, at the All-Union Glider Rally, Korolev presented a new glider SK-3, which he named “Red Star”. Stress on square meter he had more than Koktebel - 22.5 kilograms. The glider's data was so unusual that the possibility of soaring in the air itself was questioned. However, it was on it that for the first time in the history of aviation, test pilot V.A. Stepanchenok, an experienced glider pilot, made the famous Nesterov loop in free flight. Korolev was not present at the competitions because he fell ill with typhus. As a result of the complication, he developed severe headaches and required craniotomy surgery. It was successful, but remained a difficult test for Sergei. After the illness, Korolev’s body was so weakened that he had to leave work for several months. But as soon as it became easier, Sergei began reading Tsiolkovsky’s work “Jet Airplane” with enthusiasm.

Before studying in Kyiv, in Odessa, Korolev met his future wife, Ksenia Vincentini. He tried to do everything to make her become his girlfriend: he walked around her upside down, swam under a barge in the sea, and even did a handstand for her on the edge of the roof of a two-story Odessa morgue. All this made the necessary impression on Ksenia. While leaving to study at the aviation department of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Korolev proposed to her. She replied that, although she loved him, she did not intend to get married until she learned to earn money on her own.

He studied in Kyiv, then at the Moscow Higher Technical School in Moscow, and she studied in Kharkov to become a doctor. After graduation, Ksenia was assigned to work in Donbass. While there, Korolev again tries to get consent to the marriage. In August 1931, she became his wife, and he took her to Moscow. However, Sergei was not known for fidelity in marriage. Her husband’s adventures brought Ksenia to the point where in the spring of 1948 she poured out all her feelings in a letter to Korolev’s mother: “You know the whole story of our love well. I had to endure a lot of grief even before 1938 (the year of Korolev’s arrest. - Author). , and, despite the remaining feeling of affection and some kind of love for S., I firmly decided... to leave him so that he could continue his life under his favorite slogan “Let everyone live as he wants...” Later they divorced.

Korolev’s second wife was translator Nina Ivanovna, who worked in his design bureau.

The daughter of Sergei Korolev and Ksenia Vincentini, Natasha, who was under the influence of her mother, learned about her father’s infidelities at the age of 12. The rift between daughter and father remained for life. According to space age chronicler Yaroslav Golovanov, when Korolev later called her from Baikonur to wish her a happy birthday, she hung up. He sat and cried.

But while Korolev was still interested in aviation, the desire to find a means to fly higher, faster, further brought him close to the idea of ​​​​investigating the possibilities of jet propulsion. He agreed with Tsiolkovsky: “The era of propeller airplanes should be followed by the era of jet airplanes, or stratosphere airplanes.”

In March 1931, Sergei Korolev returned to work at TsAGI, combining work in the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD). It was created in August 1931 under the Bureau of Aircraft of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim (DOSAAF) in the year of the 75th anniversary of Tsiolkovsky’s birth. GIRD became the center where everyone interested in rocketry flocked. Zander was appointed its head, who played an important role in the development of theoretical and practical issues space navigation. The technical council was headed by Korolev. The age of the employees, with a few exceptions, did not exceed twenty-five years. The GIRD was located in an abandoned basement at house 19 on Sadovo-Spasskaya Street.

The idea of ​​​​creating jet engines excited many minds outside the USSR in those years. But the first, main impetus was given by Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, it was he who came up with the idea of ​​​​the birth of a jet engine running on liquid fuel. In the 1920s, work in this direction was carried out by the German scientist Obert, the American professor Goddard and others.

The work of the Girdovites was crowned with success. On August 17, 1933, at the Nakhabino test site near Moscow, the first Soviet rocket GIRD-09, designed by M.K. Tikhonravov, using liquid fuel, rushed into the sky. The rocket rose to a height of 400 meters, the flight duration was 18 seconds. But this luck made the Girdovites finally believe in their strength. Unfortunately, Zander, who was the soul of the whole affair, never saw the rocket launch. Shortly before this, on March 28, he passed away; he died of typhus while on vacation in Kislovodsk. By a special resolution, the Central Council of Osoaviakhim assigned the name of F.A. Tsander to GIRD.

In 1933, the dream of rocketry enthusiasts to create a unified rocket center came true. Cutting off all bureaucratic obstacles, on the personal order of Tukhachevsky, who had a deep understanding of fundamentally new work, GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) were merged into the Jet Research Institute (RNII). I.T. Kleimenov (head of the GDL) was appointed head of the institute, Sergei Korolev was appointed his deputy for scientific work. He was awarded the official rank of divisional engineer (according to modern concepts- rank of lieutenant general of technical troops).

At the same time, Korolev and Tikhonravov were awarded the highest award of the defense society - the badge "For active defense work."

In 1934, Korolev’s first printed work, “Rocket Flight in the Stratosphere,” was published. “A missile is a very serious weapon,” the author warned in his work. Sergei Pavlovich sent a copy of the book to Tsiolkovsky. Soon, Osoaviakhim received a letter from Tsiolkovsky with a review of Korolev’s work: “The book is reasonable, informative and useful.” The scientist only complained that the author did not provide his address and deprived him of the opportunity to personally thank him for the book.

Korolev dreamed of getting serious about the rocket plane, but his plan was not destined to come true. Not everything went smoothly at the newly created institute. Disagreements emerged regarding the primary tasks of the Rocket Institute between Kleimenov and Korolev, as a result of which Korolev was transferred to the ordinary position of senior engineer. In the fall of 1937, the wave of repression and tyranny that swept the country reached the RNII.

Tukhachevsky was shot and Tupolev was arrested, who ended up in a closed Central Design Bureau, where other “enemies of the people” worked - famous designers in the aviation world V.M. Myasishchev, V.M. Petlyakov, R.L. Bartini and others. In Moscow, on Radio Street, the seven-story TsAGI building was converted into a prison for them, with rooms allocated for housing and design work. The specialists here worked not out of fear, but out of conscience, understanding that their work was necessary for the country, and firmly believing that they would soon sort it out and be convinced of their innocence.

On September 25, 1938, Korolev was included in the list of persons subject to trial by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. He was in the first category on the list, which means that the punishment recommended by the NKVD authorities was execution. The list was personally endorsed by Stalin, thereby practically confirming the death sentence. But this was a time of change in the leadership of the NKVD and repressions had already reduced their scope. Therefore, court decisions did not so blindly follow the recommendations of the NKVD.

Lieutenant General Tyulin, a close friend who spoke with Korolev more than once on expeditions, testified: “When V. Glushko, later an academician, one of the creators of Soviet cosmonautics, was arrested on the basis of a denunciation, and declared an enemy of the people, Korolev publicly stated that he could not believe that Glushko is an enemy of the people. Then he himself was taken away a few days later."

Korolev was arrested on June 27, 1938 and sentenced to ten years in forced labor camps in Kolyma. He spent a year in Butyrka prison, during interrogations he was subjected to severe torture and beatings, as a result of which Korolev’s jaw was broken. He also suffered a concussion. On April 21, 1939, Korolev ended up in Kolyma, where he was at the Maldyak gold mine of the Western Mining Administration and was busy with the so-called “general work.” On December 2, 1939, he was sent to the disposal of Vladlag. In the Gulag, an engineer who knew Korolev from the Moscow special prison described him as “a cynic and a pessimist” who repeated: “We will all disappear without a trace.” But he was a rocket scientist, and he was needed. When a call came to Kolyma, send it to " Mainland", he hurried to the pier. However, by that time the last steamer had left. Soon the ship sank, and Korolev waited a year for navigation to begin.

Korolev returned to Moscow on March 2, 1940, where four months later he was tried a second time and sent to a new place of imprisonment - the Moscow NKVD special prison TsKB-29, where, under the leadership of Tupolev, also a prisoner, he took part in the creation of Pe-2 and Tu bombers -2 and at the same time proactively developed projects for a guided aerial torpedo and a new version of a missile interceptor. This was the reason for Korolev’s transfer in 1942 to another prison-type design bureau - OKB-16 at Kazan Aviation Plant No. 16, where work was carried out on new types of rocket engines for use in aviation.

Sergei Pavlovich worked, according to the recollections of his “cellmates,” furiously and quickly. He participated in the construction of a dive bomber under the leadership of Tupolev. Here at the Central Clinical Hospital he met the beginning of the war, then evacuated along with everyone else to Omsk. Korolev asked to be a pilot at the front, but Tupolev, who by that time had already been released from prison, having recognized and appreciated him even better, did not let him go, saying: “Who will build airplanes?”

Soon Korolev was appointed deputy head of the Tu-2 assembly shop. But the thought of creating a jet aircraft did not leave him. He did not yet know that in February 1940, the first rocket glider with a liquid rocket engine was tested in the country. It was driven by a tow plane, but it was very important fact and the first step in the development of jet aviation. Before this flight, world practice had not yet known such an experience, and in 1942 the first aircraft with a jet engine was flown. It was piloted by test pilot Grigory Bakhchivandzhi.

Korolev was released in 1944 with his criminal record cleared. This is evidenced by an extract from the Minutes of the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 27, 1944. On May 13, 1946, a decision was made to create an industry in the USSR for the development and production of rocket weapons with liquid rocket engines. In accordance with this resolution, the unification of all groups was provided for Soviet engineers to study the German V-2 missile weapons, which had been working in Germany since 1945, at the Nordhausen Research Institute, of which Korolev was appointed chief engineer and technical director. In Germany, Sergei Pavlovich not only studies the German V-2 rocket, but also designs a more advanced ballistic missile with a flight range of up to 600 kilometers.

He signed his letters to his daughter: “Your friend Sergei”, and his articles - “Professor K. Sergeev”. In the 1950s, his place of work was stated in the directory of the Academy of Sciences: “PO Box 651.”

In 1952, after his criminal record was cleared and he received the order, Korolev applied to be a party candidate. At the bureau of the district committee he is received with difficulty (6 for, 5 against): after all, he is a former enemy of the people. On May 30, 1955, Korolev wrote to the Military Prosecutor’s Office: “I ask you to reconsider my case and completely rehabilitate me, since I was not a member of any anti-Soviet organization...”. The answer had to wait two years: rehabilitation came only in the spring of 1957, a few months before the launch of Sputnik. However, he never felt completely free. “The most tragic thing is that they don’t understand how much there is in common between life in the Gulag and life in freedom.” large area". After all, I’m classified, so if they want, they’ll slam me without an obituary. Another time you wake up, lie there and think: they’ll give a command, and the same guards will burst into the room and yell: “Come on, you bastard, get out with your things!” - from memories of Ozerov, who was with Korlev in the Gulag, and then free.

The first task set by the government for Korolev as chief designer and all organizations involved in missile weapons was to create an analogue of the V-2 rocket from domestic materials. But already in 1947, a decree was issued on the development of new ballistic missiles with a greater flight range than the V-2: up to 3,000 kilometers. In 1948, Korolev began flight tests of the R-1 ballistic missile (analogous to the V-2) and in 1950 successfully put it into service. This rocket differed from the German one in significantly greater reliability.

At the same time, Korolev was developing a new ballistic missile R-2 with a flight range of 600 kilometers.

The R-2 missile had a supporting fuel tank, a more convenient layout for operation and, most importantly, a warhead that separated in flight. In addition, the rocket propulsion system was significantly modified to increase its thrust, and the autonomous control system had twice the accuracy of fire. The R-2 missile was put into service in 1951, i.e. only a year later than the R-1 missile.

Together with practical work above rocket weapons At NII-88, under the scientific leadership of Korolev, large-scale design and experimental research on topics H-I, N-2, N-3 in order to create a scientific and technical basis for the development of qualitatively new missiles.

On the topic N-1, experimental and theoretical studies of the main technical problems related to the implementation of the R-3 rocket project, which has a flight range of 3000 kilometers: it was necessary to ensure the stability of the flight of the rocket without a stabilizer (aerodynamically unstable) design and to obtain data on the behavior of boiling liquid oxygen in a thermally non-insulated oxidizer carrier tank during movement in the active part of the trajectory at elevated external heat flows into the mass of liquid oxygen. Based on the design solutions of the R-2 missile using its uprated engine, a single-stage experimental R-ZA ballistic missile with a stabilizerless design with a flight range of 1,200 kilometers was created. Successful flight tests of this missile gave rise to the Ministry of Defense to adopt it into service in 1956 with a nuclear warhead as the R-5M. It was the first domestic strategic missile, which became the basis of the country's nuclear missile shield.

On the N-2 topic, studies were carried out on the possibility and feasibility of creating ballistic missiles operating on stable fuel components (using nitric acid with nitrogen oxides as an oxidizer). As a result, the possibility of creating such missiles was confirmed and a preliminary design of the first domestic ballistic missile R-11 with a flight range of 250 km and a launch weight half that of the R-1 was completed. However, taking into account the environmental toxicity of nitrogen oxides and the lower energy characteristics of stable liquid fuels compared to fuels based on liquid oxygen and kerosene, as well as those that arose then serious problems With the development of rocket engines with the required thrust (greater than 8 g), stably operating on these fuel components, it was considered advisable to use a nitric acid oxidizer with nitrogen oxides for BR with comparatively short range flight. When creating missiles with a longer flight range, and especially intercontinental ones, it was recommended to use liquid oxygen as an oxidizer. Sergei Pavlovich turned out to be faithful to this direction in the development of rocket technology throughout his entire creative activity.

The Ministry of Defense entrusted OKB-1 NII-88 with the development of the N-11 missile, and Korolev brilliantly solved this problem by using A.M. Isaev’s 8-ton engine, which had just been created for an anti-aircraft missile, and for the first time using a liquid pressure accumulator to supply fuel to the combustion chamber .

Based on the R-11, Korolev developed and put into service in 1957 the R-11M strategic missile with a nuclear warhead, transported fueled on a tank chassis. Having seriously modified this missile, he adapted it for armament of submarines (submarines) as the R-11FM. The changes were more than serious, as it was done new system control and aiming, and also provided the ability to fire in fairly strong sea conditions from the surface. Thus, Sergei Pavlovich created the first ballistic missiles based on stable mobile ground- and sea-based fuel components and was a pioneer in these new and important areas of missile development.

He transferred the final development of the R-11FM missile to Zlatoust, to SKB-385, sending there from his OKB-1 the young talented lead designer V.P. Makeev, together with qualified designers and constructors, thereby laying the foundation for the creation of a unique center for the development of ballistic missiles. sea-based missiles.

At NII-88, two research projects were started under the leadership of Korolev with the aim of determining the appearance and parameters of intercontinental ballistic and winged types(topics T-1 and T-2) with the necessary experimental confirmation of problematic design solutions.

Research on the T-1 topic grew into development work related to the creation of the first two-stage intercontinental missile R-7 package design, which still surprises with its original design solutions, ease of execution, high reliability and efficiency. The R-7 rocket made its first successful flight in August 1957.

As a result of research on the T-2 topic, the possibility of developing a two-stage intercontinental cruise missile was shown, the first stage of which was purely rocket and launched the second stage, a cruise missile, to an altitude of 23-25 ​​kilometers. The winged stage, using a ramjet engine, continued to fly at these altitudes at a speed of 3 M and was aimed at the target using an celestial navigation control system.

Subsequently, Korolev developed a more advanced compact two-stage intercontinental missile R-9 (supercooled liquid oxygen is used as an oxidizer) and put it into service (the silo version of the R-9A) in 1962. Later, in parallel with work on important space systems, Sergei Pavlovich began to be the first in the country to develop the solid-fuel intercontinental rocket RT-2, which was put into service after his death. At this point, OKB-1 Korolev stopped working on combat missiles and focused its efforts on creating priority space systems and unique launch vehicles.

While working on combat ballistic missiles, Korolev, as is now clear, strived for more - the conquest of outer space and human space flights. To this end, Sergei Pavlovich, back in 1949, together with scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences, began research using modifications of the R-1A rocket and launching it to altitudes of up to 100 kilometers, and then using more powerful R-2 and R-5 rockets to altitudes of 200 and 500 kilometers. The purpose of these flights was to study the parameters of near outer space, solar and galactic radiation, the Earth's magnetic field, the behavior of highly developed animals in space conditions (weightlessness, overloads, large vibrations and acoustic loads), as well as testing life support and returning animals to Earth from space - About seven dozen such launches were made. With this, Sergei Pavlovich laid in advance serious foundations for a human assault on space.

In 1955, long before the flight tests of the R-7 rocket, Korolev, M.V. Keldysh, M.K. Tikhonravov came to the government with a proposal to launch an artificial satellite into space using the R-7 rocket. The government supports this initiative. In August 1956, OKB-1 left NII-88 and became an independent organization, with Korolev appointed chief designer and director. And already on October 4, 1957, Korolev launched the first satellite in human history into low-Earth orbit.

The period when spacecraft were created belongs to the fourth period of Korolev’s activity from 1957 until his premature death at the beginning of 1966. During this period, the Queen was distinguished by her breadth of views and inexhaustible creative energy. Working with Korolev was difficult, but interesting. The work went on day and night.

Sergei Pavlovich did not like to repeat himself. While developing some fundamentally new design, bringing it to perfection, he lost interest in it. Instead of then, over the course of many years, creating variants of what had already been mastered, he donated all this to the team of a related organization. And, if necessary, he transferred a group of his employees to the new enterprise.

They started a big business practically from scratch. And yet, over the course of ten years, the following were developed: orientation systems for photographing reverse side Moon, orientation and correction of flight trajectories of Mars, Venus and Zonds. Automatic and manual control systems have been developed for manned spacecraft Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz and others. Sergei Pavlovich’s passion was transmitted, as if through a chain, to all participants, from scientists to ordinary workers, and the impossible became possible.

Korolev saw the appearance of space technology after many years. Sergei Pavlovich conducted meetings in a unique manner, allowing everyone to speak and keeping minutes “for himself” in the most careful manner. Upon completion, he thanked everyone present and said that he had heard a lot of interesting things, but he needed to think about it. The decision, which was sometimes made after some time, did not necessarily coincide with the opinion of the majority; often Sergei Pavlovich looked at the problem more broadly than his colleagues, taking into account what went far beyond the scope of the organization he headed. Having outlined the next goal, Korolev had the ability to instill in all participants in the work confidence in imminent success, to inspire them to do seemingly unthinkable things. He knew how to create an atmosphere in which people gave their all and did everything to bring victory closer.

Having organized the work, Korolev moved towards the goal, sweeping away obstacles, maintaining confidence in ultimate success, concentrating his forces on the main direction. Korolev did not convey topics related to manned flights to anyone. This was, on the one hand, due to the special responsibility of manned flights, on the other hand, to the long-standing and persistent sympathies of Sergei Pavlovich - he more than once said with regret that his age and health did not allow him to fly into space himself. Everything related to the work of the cosmonauts was led by Korolev himself and controlled most carefully.

B.V. Rauschenbach wrote about Korolev: “Working with Korolev was difficult, but interesting. Increased demands, short time and novelty... He always wanted to know in detail the problems that his employees were solving; when reporting this or that question to him, I often heard: “I don’t understand, repeat it.” Not every manager could afford this “I didn’t understand”, for fear of losing his authority in the eyes of his subordinate. But such human weaknesses were completely alien to Sergei Pavlovich. All our projects were implemented in rocket technology, first of all, thanks to S.P., whom no one and nothing could stop if he needed something for his business. Korolev said that he always waited for the confirming voice of intuition, “like the third bell”... How often, relying on intuition, he resolved controversial issues and was never mistaken! He was no scientist. They also write that he was a great engineer - this is absolute nonsense... because he did little: there is not a single Korolev theorem, not a single Korolev formula. But he also had another amazing property - even if there is a lack of information, he can still accept the right decision... Again an amazing instinct that never let him down. Such a business as he led could only be carried out with the character of Korolev - the character of a commander. Sergei Pavlovich was an excellent psychologist, without prejudice, without one-sided approach to a person. I didn’t divide into “little white” and “black”, I saw people with all their “stripes” and “speckles”. This helped him make full use of his talent as a leader; he knew how to infect those around him with his mood: enthusiasm, haste, or, conversely, calmness; in a word, what he at that moment considered necessary for the matter. I think that Korolev’s main thing was not that he came up with or invented something. At one time I thought for a long time about Korolev and all those people who really made major discoveries, I would say, discoveries of global significance, and I thought about how to call them in one word: a great scientist, a great engineer? This is all nonsense. There are many great scientists, and many great engineers. And these people were unique phenomena. And I repeat, I couldn’t think of a better word than commander.”

Even before the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, under the leadership of Korolev, projects were being developed for interplanetary stations, satellites for national economic purposes, and manned spacecraft. In January 1959, the first rocket was launched towards the Moon; in the same year, a pennant depicting the coat of arms of the Soviet Union was delivered to the surface of the Moon and photographs of its reverse side were taken. In 1966, less than a month after Korolev’s death, a spacecraft made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon - last work Queen on the lunar exploration program. Korolev’s highest achievement in the field of deep space exploration was the flight of ships to Mars and Venus, and the delivery of a pennant with the coat of arms of the Soviet Union to the surface of Mars.

The Molniya-1 satellite became an example of solving a complex and necessary problem - providing radiotelegraph, radiotelephone and television communications over long distances, in particular between Moscow and the Far East.

But manned space flights are rightly considered the pinnacle of Korolev’s creativity. On April 12, 1961, the Vostok spacecraft launched with Yuri Gagarin on board.

It was as if Korolev himself did not exist during his lifetime. Only after his death was it allowed to talk, write and remember about him. He was an invisible man - without a name, biography, without facial expression and habits, without the two kopeck coins that Korolev always carried in his coat pocket - a strange children's talisman. Even when Korolev was alive, skeptics had ample reason to doubt his reality. The secret behind which this man was hiding resembled something fantastic.

He took on a difficult burden. Nature rewarded him with an analytical mind, the ability to captivate and lead others. Evil tongues, however, have always cast a shadow over the fence, assuring that Korolev is one of many of the same kind. But gossips were wrong: he stood out among others with his audacity, talent, and ability to look to the future. And he worked much more than others, because he took on other people’s burdens. He lived a mythological life, practically ruining his health.

Korolev was sick with rectal sarcoma. In addition, he was found to have atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis, sclerosis of the cerebral arteries, pulmonary emphysema and metabolic disorders.

He died on the operating table. When Korolev was admitted to the Kremlin hospital, the operation was assigned to the middle-aged Professor Petrovsky. It was possible to put Korolev in a foreign clinic, as was the case with Chernenko, but Korolev was a secret scientist. Professor Golyakovsky, who lives in New York and was a former Moscow doctor, recalled this in his book “The Russian Doctor”: “They put Korolev on the operating table and, having begun the operation, discovered that the diagnosis was false. And the operation continued. When the patient became bad, the famous surgeon Vishnevsky was urgently called in. He examined the dying Korolev and muttered gloomily: “I don’t operate on corpses.”

Petrovsky was unable to stop the bleeding during the operation by removing the polyps. They decided to open the abdominal cavity. When doctors began to get to the site of the bleeding, they discovered a tumor the size of a fist. It was a sarcoma - a malignant tumor. Petrovsky decided to remove the sarcoma. At the same time, part of the rectum was removed. Due to the injury received in exile (the investigator hit Sergei Pavlovich on the cheekbone with a decanter), they could not insert a breathing tube into his throat. Korolev's death occurred on January 14, 1966 from heart failure. He was 59 years old.

The funeral took place on Red Square in Moscow on January 18 at 13:00. The urn with the ashes of Sergei Korolev was buried in the Kremlin wall.

As a sign of recognition of Korolev’s merits, monuments were erected in his homeland in Zhitomir, in Moscow, where he lived, in the Moscow region, where he built rockets and ships, at the cosmodrome, from where he laid roads to the Universe. The Kuibyshev Aviation Institute, the streets of many cities, two research vessels, a high mountain peak in the Pamirs, a pass in the Tien Shan, and an asteroid bear his name. In commemoration of Korolev’s merits in the study of the Moon, the world astronomical community assigned his name to one of the large ring-shaped rock formations on the Moon - the thalassoid.

A documentary film “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” was shot about Sergei Korolev.

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Text prepared by Andrey Goncharov

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