Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Winding road to space

Korolev Sergey Pavlovich (1907-1966) - the largest Soviet design engineer in the field of space shipbuilding, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, scientist. He was engaged in practical astronautics, developed, tested and introduced rocket and space technology and rocket weapons in the USSR, was the initiator and leader of the launch of a man into space and the first artificial satellite of the Earth. Hero of Socialist Labor (twice), Laureate of the Lenin Prize.

Childhood

Seryozha was born on January 12, 1907 in Zhitomir (then the town belonged to the Russian Empire, now it is Ukraine).

His father, Korolev Pavel Yakovlevich, born in 1877, was from Mogilev, taught Russian literature. Educated at the Nizhyn Historical and Philological Institute, where he met his future wife.

Mom, Moskalenko Maria Nikolaevna, born in 1888, was from a merchant family of the city of Nezhin, Chernihiv province, was also engaged in teaching.

Seryozha was about three years old when the Korolevs moved to Kyiv, but the life of their parents did not work out, dad left the family. And then his mother sent him to Nizhyn, where grandfather Moskalenko Nikolai Yakovlevich and grandmother Maria Matveevna took up the boy's upbringing, they were madly in love with their grandson.

Seryozha was four years old when he first observed the flight of a man on an airplane. It happened in 1911 in Nizhyn, when the Russian pilot Utochkin flew into the city. The boy was already growing impressionable, and the pilot and the airplane shocked him even more.

When Sergei was eight years old, his mother remarried engineer Balanin Grigory Mikhailovich, took her son from her grandparents and took her to Kyiv. Here in 1915 the boy began to study at the preparatory courses of the gymnasium.

Studies

In 1917, the family moved to his stepfather's homeland in Odessa, where Seryozha began to study in the first grade of the gymnasium. Unfortunately, the educational institution was soon closed, and little Korolev attended the unified labor school for about four months. He received further education at home, classes with the child were conducted by his mother and stepfather, Grigory Mikhailovich had not only an engineering education, but also a pedagogical one.

Among all subjects and sciences, Sergei preferred technical ones, he was especially interested in aviation technology. In 1921, a detachment of seaplanes was organized in Odessa. Korolev could spend hours watching them fly over the sea. Then the boy had a goal - to fly in the sky on the same plane.

And then the young Korolev accidentally met Vasily Dolganov, who worked as a mechanic in the hydro detachment. The man fumbled in the engines, explained to the boy what was happening, and he greedily hung on every word. Having quickly studied the theory, Sergey began to practice, all summer from morning to evening he disappeared in the hydro detachment, helping mechanics in pre-flight preparation of aircraft. Soon, for all pilots and mechanics, Sergei became a trouble-free, indispensable assistant.

In 1922, Korolev entered a professional construction school, where he studied for two years, attending various courses and circles. Especially often he disappeared in the school carpentry workshop, where the guys made various products and models from wood. This school gave him great experience, which was useful to Korolev when he began to build not wooden, but real gliders. Sergey studied so diligently that one day his class teacher told his mother: “Your guy has a king in his head.”

Aviation Society

In 1923, the Society of Aviation and Aeronautics of Ukraine and Crimea (OAVUK) was created in Odessa. Sergey was one of the first to enroll in the society and in the glider circle created under him. By this time, Korolev had already managed to take to the air once in a seaplane with the commander of the ship, whom the mechanic Dolganov persuaded to take the young man with him.

Sergey devoted almost all his time to the OAVUK society. Very soon he became a lecturer on the elimination of aviation illiteracy, sharing his knowledge of gliding and the history of aviation with the workers. Moreover, he himself did not specifically study this anywhere, he learned everything from books. At the construction school, he had a teacher Gottlieb Karlovich Ave, who taught his lessons only in German. Sergey's stepfather also had an excellent command of this language. So Korolev learned German to perfection and read books on aviation in this language.

However, after graduating from a construction school, it was necessary to get a serious profession. His work experience began at the age of sixteen. For some time Korolev worked as a carpenter, covering the roofs with tiles. He had a chance to work hard in the production of the machine. He told his parents: "I will build ... But only airplanes". Mom was against this choice of her son, and his stepfather supported Seryozha. I must say that the stepson had a wonderful relationship with Grigory Mikhailovich, he found support from him on any issue.

Institutes

At the age of seventeen, Sergei developed a project for a non-powered K-5 aircraft. His invention was officially accepted by the competent commission and recommended for construction. Korolev decided to continue his studies in Moscow at the Air Force Academy. But they were accepted there only from the age of eighteen and after serving in the Red Army. Since Sergei had neither one nor the other, he went to Kyiv, where he became a student at the Polytechnic Institute. He entered the Faculty of Aviation Engineering.

Studying had to be combined with work, so that you could make ends meet. The guy got up at five in the morning, ran to the editorial office for newspapers, and then delivered them to Solomenka, so he earned eight karbovanets. I had to work as a carpenter, again remember the work of a roofer and earn extra money as a loader.

Nevertheless, Korolev still found time for the glider circle that existed at the institute. Here he worked enthusiastically and often stayed in the workshop all night, falling asleep in the morning on a pile of shavings. Quite quickly, he became known as a jack of all trades, many of his developments participated in international competitions.

After two years of study at the Kiev Institute, Korolev transferred to Moscow at the Bauman Higher Technical School, by which time his mother and stepfather had moved to the capital. Sergei began training in a special evening group in aeromechanics, along with this he continued to invent, build, catch every new trend in aviation:

• 1926 - joined the student academic circle named after N. Zhukovsky, where lectures were given by scientists and famous engineers.
• 1927 - Korolev was enrolled in the Moscow Gliding School, where he flew a lot, mastering new gliders. In the same year, he became acquainted with the works of Tsiolkovsky, after which he became interested in rockets and space flights.
• 1928 - began working at an aircraft factory in Fili.
• 1929 - graduate student Korolev practiced at the Tupolev Design Bureau and defended his diploma, in which he developed a two-seat light aircraft SK-4. Scrupulous and strict Tupolev supervised the graduation project and signed it the first time, which had never happened before. Later, according to the project, the SK-4 aircraft was built and tested.

Scientific activity and inventions

A certified specialist, Korolev began his career at the Menzhinsky Aviation Plant, and in 1931 moved to the Zhukovsky Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute.

In the fall of 1931, Korolev, together with the scientist and inventor F. A. Zander, created the GIRD (the group was engaged in the study of jet propulsion). Already in 1933, Sergei Pavlovich led the first launch of ballistic missiles on liquid and hybrid fuels.

At the end of 1933, he moved to work at the RNII, held the positions of chief engineer, deputy head of the institute, and also headed the cruise missile department.

In the summer of 1938, the scientist was arrested, the primary charge was - a member of the "Trotskyist organization." He was sentenced to ten years in prison and sent to Kolyma. Then they issued a new sentence "for wrecking in the field of military equipment." But in 1944, the criminal record was removed, and they were fully rehabilitated only in 1957.

After the war, in the Moscow region, they created the Research Institute of the Ministry of Armaments. Under him there was a secret design bureau, which was headed by Korolev.

Already in 1948, the R-1 ballistic missile was tested, which was put into service in 1950. Then he took up the development of various modifications of the R-1, finished working on the R-5 single-stage medium-range ballistic missile and on its modification with the R-5M nuclear warhead. The next development was the R-11 single-stage liquid-propellant rocket and its marine version, the R-11 FM.

In 1956, Korolev was the head of the creation of a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile R-7. Even before the R-7 test, Sergei Pavlovich proposed to the government an idea - to launch an artificial satellite of the Earth with the help of a rocket.

The country's leadership approved the initiative, and on October 4, 1957, an artificial satellite was launched into low Earth orbit - the first in the history of mankind. Great success followed, the USSR suddenly gained high prestige in the international arena. As Korolev himself later said: “In a small satellite, the daring dream of mankind was embodied”.

Subsequently, under the leadership of Korolev, the following were created and launched into orbit:

• geophysical "Sputnik-3";
• paired satellites "Electron", with the help of which the radiation belts of the planet Earth were studied;
• three lunar automatic stations: "Luna-1" flew nearby, "Luna-2" delivered a pennant of the USSR to the Moon, "Luna-3" took a picture of that side of the Moon that is not visible from the Earth.

And on April 12, 1961, the world community was again amazed by the inventions of Korolev: he designed the first manned spacecraft Vostok-1 in history, on which Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew. So humanity began to explore outer space. Less than six months later, the second flight by German Titov was carried out on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, he was in space for almost a whole day.

In August 1962, under the leadership of Korolev, two ships were launched jointly - Vostok-3 and Vostok-4. A year later, in the summer of 1963, during the joint launch of Vostok-5 and Vostok-6, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, went into outer space.

In 1964, Korolev developed a more complex Voskhod ship, where three people could already be on board - a flight engineer, a commander and a doctor. In the spring of 1965, for the first time since Voskhod-2, a man made an exit into open space. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov left the spacecraft through the lock chamber and stayed overboard for 20 minutes.

Sergei Pavlovich took up the development of a more advanced Soyuz spacecraft, where the cosmonauts could stay for a long time and conduct scientific research. But he did not live to see the launch of the Soyuz. He also did not have time to implement another of his plans - launching a man to the moon. The great designer and scientist died on January 14, 1966, he had rectal sarcoma. The urn with the ashes of Korolev was buried in the Kremlin wall.

Wives and children

Korolev met his first wife Xenia Vincentini as a young man in Odessa. He sought her for seven years, at the end of the summer of 1931 they got married. Ksenia Maksimilianovna was a first-class surgeon. In 1935, they had a girl, Natasha, who followed in her mother's footsteps, becoming a professor, doctor of medical sciences and a laureate of the State Prize.

Unfortunately, Sergei Pavlovich, who dreamed of his beloved Xenia for so long, after several years of living together, lost interest in his wife, and other women appeared in his life. When her daughter Natasha was 12 years old, she learned from her mother about her father's infidelities, tore all his photographs and deleted them from her life. This crack remained forever, Korolev met his daughter very rarely and was not even invited to her wedding.

In the spring of 1947, he met his second wife, Nina Ivanovna, who worked as a translator at his research institute. Together they lived for almost twenty years, until his death.

SPACESHIP DESIGNER

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev characterizes one of the brightest pages in the history of our state - the era of space exploration, the first earth satellite, the first manned flight into space, the first spacewalk by an astronaut, the long-term work of the orbital station and much more is directly related to the name of Academician Sergei Pavlovich Korolev , the first Chief Designer of Rocket and Space Systems.
The most characteristic feature of the Queen is enormous energy. With this energy, he knew how to infect others. He was a very determined man, often quite stern. Korolev is a fusion of cold rationalism and daydreaming. Sergei Korolev, more than anyone else, is credited with making the space age a reality.
Along with the greatest achievements in science and technology, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev prepared a whole galaxy of scientists and specialists who continued his work. The creation of the Soviet school of rocket science is only part of Korolev's contribution to the exploration and development of outer space. His whole life is an example of persistent and patient selection, education and study of teams of the highest qualification, technically courageous and selflessly dedicated specialists.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was born on December 30, 1906 (January 12, 1907) in Ukraine, in the city of Zhytomyr, in the family of a literature teacher.

The house in Zhytomyr where S.P. Korolyov was born

Father - Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev - a very gifted, hardworking, but not rich man, was a teacher at the Zhytomyr gymnasium. Mother - Maria Nikolaevna Moskalenko - a merchant's daughter. The life of the parents did not work out from the very beginning. Soon, after moving to Kyiv, the parents separated when Serezha was 5 years old.

Series of Queens. 3 years.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was brought up by his grandparents, his mother's parents in the city of Nizhyn, who owned a small merchant's shop. Grandfather and grandmother loved their grandson very much, they did not have a soul in him. Maria Nikolaevna at that time fulfilled her long-standing desire - she entered the Higher Women's Courses.

In Nizhyn in 1911, Serezha first saw the flight of the Russian pilot Utochkin on an airplane. The rumbling huge bird shook the imagination of the impressionable boy and gave rise to such sprouts in his soul that ten years later took possession of Sergei Korolev forever.

Serezha Korolev with his favorite gun
Nizhyn 1912

Serezha did not remember his father. He was raised by his mother - a teacher and stepfather Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin - an engineer. In 1917 Serezha, together with his mother, moved to Odessa to live with his stepfather, where he got a job. Difficult revolutionary years have come. Hunger, devastation, endless change of power. Only in February 1920 did the Soviet power finally win and life began to improve. Sergei was 13 years old, he studied at home, but his passion was the sky, he wanted to fly, build airplanes.

Stepfather Queen
Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin

Knowing about the inclination of his stepson, Grigory Mikhailovich enrolled him in the modeling circle of the port club. The boy was engaged with enthusiasm, read articles about aviation, aircraft modeling and design.
In 1921, a detachment of hydroplanes HYDRO-3 of the Main Directorate of the Air Force appeared in Odessa. Sergey, with bated breath, watched their flight over the sea and, of course, dreamed of at least once climbing into the sky on them. The case brought the teenager to the mechanic of the hydro detachment Vasily Dolganov - four years older than him. Serezha watched with interest how deftly a new acquaintance delved into the engine, explaining to him what was happening. After the first “lecture”, the “practice” began. From now on, he spent all the summer time in the hydro detachment, helping to prepare aircraft for flights. Having studied the engine, Korolev became an indispensable, trouble-free assistant. For this, all mechanics and pilots loved him.
He did not manage to get a secondary general education right away - there were no conditions. In 1922, a construction vocational school was opened in Odessa, where the best teachers were involved in teaching; fifteen-year-old Sergei entered there. An excellent memory allowed him to memorize whole pages of books he read. Seryozha studied diligently, enthusiastically. The class teacher spoke about him to his mother Maria Nikolaevna: "A guy with a king in his head."

Construction vocational school student

All this time, he did not interrupt his acquaintance with the mechanic Dolganov and pilots from the hydro-aviation detachment. Under the patronage of Dolganov, Sergei once took to the air, and even in a seaplane, which was led by the commander himself. The young man decided to become a pilot. Soon the glory of a real mechanic was entrenched in Sergey. Flight followed flight. Sergei never refused to fly.
During these years, Sergei Korolev had another passion. For hours he worked in a school production workshop, learned to work at a lathe, turned parts of complex configuration. "Carpentry" school was very useful to Sergei when he began to build gliders.
Classes at school demanded special organization from Sergey. He skillfully divided time between mathematical and astronomical circles, gymnastic and boxing sections of the Sokol sports club, musical and literary evenings. And during the holidays he visited the hydro detachment.

Graduate of the First Odessa Construction Professional School
Sergei Korolev

In 1923, the government appealed to the people to build their own Air Fleet. In Ukraine, the Society of Aviation and Aeronautics of Ukraine and Crimea (OAVUK) was born.
Serezha immediately became a member of this society and began to study in one of its glider circles. He lectured workers on gliding. The young man acquired knowledge of gliding and the history of aviation on his own, reading all the books, including in German, that he could get his hands on. Thanks to his stepfather and teacher of the construction vocational school, Gottlieb Karlovich Ave, who taught all the lessons in German, Sergei Korolev knew German quite well. Knowledge of the language was firmly entrenched in him for 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 (OIMS) was founded. F. E. Dzerzhinsky and K. E. Tsiolkovsky were elected its honorary members. The main task of this society was to promote the work on the implementation of extra-atmospheric flights with the help of jet vehicles and other scientifically based means.
It should be noted that at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there was an interest in the surrounding stellar world. It was fueled by science fiction. Mastering the minds, they contributed to the emergence of scientific and technical ideas. The little-known Russian researcher K. E. Tsiolkovsky created the space work “Investigation of the World Spaces with 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 scheme proposed by him is capable of reaching the speed necessary to overcome the earth's gravity.
In those distant years for us, people read out the fantastic story "Out of the Earth" by K. E. Tsiolkovsky and especially the novel by A. N. Tolstoy "Aelita". Long queues lined up at cinemas and clubs where a film based on this work was shown. The audience warmly applauded the engineer Mstislav Los and the recent Red Army soldier Alexei Gusev, who dared to go to Mars. It was fantastic. But there lived a real Elk, who developed a spaceship-aeroplane - our compatriot Friedrich Arturovich Zander, a follower of Tsiolkovsky's ideas. Another engineer, Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk, a theorist of astronautics, was thinking about the work "To those who will read to build." But Sergei Korolev has not yet read, neither Tsiolkovsky nor Zander, he has not heard anything about Kondratyuk. All of them will enter his life later, earning his deep respect.
Thus, after graduating from school, Sergei worked as a carpenter, tiled the roofs, and later switched to a machine tool, to production. The work experience of the Chief Designer began at the age of sixteen. “I will be a builder ... but only aircraft,” Korolev said in those years. Maria Nikolaevna in her heart resisted her son's passion, expressing fears about the danger of the path of life he had chosen. The sensible stepfather, on the contrary, treated him calmly. In his stepfather, Sergei found support for his aspirations.
Serezha dreamed of getting a higher education, he dreamed of studying at the Air Force Academy in Moscow. But people who had served in the Red Army and reached the age of 18 were accepted there. Sergei could have been helped by a certificate from the Odessa City Department of the OAVUK on the submission to the aviation technical department of the project of the non-motorized K-5 aircraft designed by him, which, along with a petition for his son, was brought to the leadership of the academy by Maria Nikolaevna. However, the uncertainty about admission to the Moscow Academy remained. And Sergei decided to enter the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where at that time it was supposed to begin training aviation engineers at the Faculty of Mechanics.
Among the students of the Faculty of Mechanics, Sergei was considered one of the youngest and most educated. Worked at the same time. Whom only Sergey was not during these years: a peddler of newspapers, and a loader, and a carpenter, and a roofer. But still, he could barely make ends meet. In a letter to his mother in Odessa, Sergey wrote: “I get up early in the morning, at five o'clock. I run to the editorial office, pick up the newspapers, and then run to Solomenka, deliver them. So I earn eight karbovanets. And I’m even thinking of taking the corner off.”
There was a glider circle at the institute. His work was followed and assisted by many prominent scientists who taught at the KPI. Sergei Korolev became a member. He worked, like everyone else, hard and enthusiastically. Often at night. Korolev sometimes slept right in the workshop on shavings. He loved to work and was known as a jack of all trades. After that, nothing was ever changed.

Sergei Korolev in the brigade,
builder of training glider
Summer 1925

Gliders built in the institute's workshops participated in international competitions, receiving the highest marks. At the same time, the circle members had a rule: who built the glider, he flew on it.
A training glider KPIR-3 was built, Korolev also invested a share of his work in it. Sergey flew on it. One of the flights nearly cost him his life. On the border of the site - a wasteland where the gliders were tested, a water pipe stuck out of a pile of garbage. Sergei did not notice and landed the glider on ... her. The blow was strong enough. Korolev lost consciousness for a while. Stayed up for a few days.
In 1926, after studying for two years at the KPI, Sergei Korolev went to Moscow to enter the Moscow Higher Technical School. He was enrolled in the evening group on aeromechanics at Moscow Higher Technical School. During the day he worked either in a design bureau or at an aircraft factory, and in the evening he studied. By this time, his mother and stepfather had moved to Moscow.

Student of the Moscow Higher Technical
schools to them. N. E. Bauman

Korolev studied with his characteristic industriousness, for a long time he studied independently in the technical library. The lectures of the thirty-five-year-old aviation designer Tupolev, who gave an introductory course on aircraft construction to students of the mechanical department, were especially popular. Tupolev noticed Korolev's outstanding abilities and later considered him one of his best students.
With all his might, Korolev strove for aviation. As soon as he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School, Sergey immediately joined the work of the student circle AKNEZH - Academic Circle. Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky. Engineers and scientists gave lectures there.
Aviation spread its wings wider and wider. The youth passionately rushed to the sky. In January 1927, the solemn opening of the Moscow glider school took place in the Gorki Leninskiye area. Sergei Korolev also became her cadet. He flew a lot and willingly, mastering new types of gliders. From flight to flight, the flying skills of the cadets grew, and along with them, their characters also matured. A pilot cannot do without such qualities as purposefulness, responsibility, composure, endurance. Sergei had a hard time, but it was a good school.
In March 1927, Sergei graduated with honors from the glider school. One thing he has already achieved, he learned to fly a glider. Further, his task was to gain knowledge and build aircraft.
With particular impatience, Sergei Korolev waited for the lectures of the then-famous thirty-five-year-old aviation designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev. He taught students a course on aircraft engineering. For students, Andrei Nikolaevich is an indisputable authority. After all, his planes had already plowed the sky by that time.
In May 1927, at the international exhibition of interplanetary vehicles, Sergei first got acquainted with the works of F. A. Tsander and the brochure of K. E. Tsiolkovsky "The study of world spaces with jet devices." Books, drawings, diagrams, handicraft models - everything that was shown at the exhibition touched Korolev's mind. Since that time, he has become more focused on rockets and space flights. However, all his thoughts were still absorbed by planes and gliders.
In September 1927 Sergei Korolev "graduated» the glider pilot, the organizers of gliding competitions in Koktebel included in the training group. In the Crimea, Sergey flew a lot and with pleasure. It was there that he was overcome by the desire to build a glider of his own design.

S. P. Korolev, 1928

A graduate student of the Moscow Higher Technical School Korolev had an internship at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), at the Design Bureau of A. N. Tupolev. At this time, he was already working at the aircraft factory No. 22 Filiakh. At the same time, he was preparing a graduation project, deciding to design a light-engine two-seat aircraft SK-4, squeezing everything possible out of it.
The project of the SK-4 aircraft, designed for a record-breaking flight range, turned out to be original, thought out to the smallest detail and worked out at the level of a mature specialist. A. N. Tupolev became the head of the project, subsequently signing it from the first presentation. This did not happen in the practice of students. The rigor and scrupulousness of the designer were known. Approved by A. N. Tupolev, the project of a single-engine two-seat aircraft SK-4 was then built and tested.
In September 1929, Sergei Korolev and his colleague Sergei Lyushin presented an unusual glider at the VI All-Union Gliding Competition in Koktebel, about 50-90 kg heavier than their counterparts.

S. P. Korolev, S. N. Lyushin and
K. K. Artseulov at the Koktebel glider

At the time, it was believed that the smaller the glider, 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 successfully balanced. Handles well. May be allowed to fly. On the Koktebel glider, twenty-two-year-old Korolev set a soaring record. He hovered in the air for more than four hours. Sergey wrote about these days to his mother: “Everything is going great, even better than I thought, and it seems that for the first time in my life I feel tremendous satisfaction, and I want to shout something towards the wind that hugs my face and makes my red bird shudder. at impulses.

Training group of glider pilots at the glider
designs by A. S. Yakovlev. Koktebel.
S. P. Korolev third from left

And somehow I can’t believe that such a heavy piece of metal and wood can fly. But it is enough just to break away from the Earth, as you feel that the car seems to come to life and flies with a whistle, obedient to every movement of the steering wheel. Isn't it the greatest satisfaction and reward to fly your own car?! For the sake of this, you can forget everything: and a whole string of sleepless nights, days spent in hard work without rest, without respite ... ".

S. P. Korolev in pilot uniform, 1929

In August 1929, on the way from Odessa to Moscow, Sergei decided to visit K. E. Tsiolkovsky. The meeting with him played a decisive role in determining the life path of the Queen. The conversation with Konstantin Eduardovich made a huge impression on Sergei. “Konstantin Eduardovich shocked me then with his belief in the possibility of space navigation,” Korolev recalled many years later. - I left him with one thought - to build rockets and fly them. The whole meaning of my life was one thing - to break through to the stars.
In September 1929, student Korolev successfully defended his graduation project. Congratulating the young engineer, A. N. Tupolev warned: “There are no easy ways in aviation. If you are not afraid of difficulties, the road to us is open for you.”
In October 1930, at the All-Union Gliding Rally, S.P. Korolev presented a new SK-3 glider, which he called the Red Star. His load per square meter was greater than that of Koktebel - 22.5 kg. The data of the glider was so unusual that the possibility of soaring in the air itself was called into question. 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, he was suddenly struck down by severe typhus. He was so seriously ill that for two weeks he was on the verge of life and death. The young organism overcame the disease, but a complication occurred - severe headaches, an operation was required for craniotomy. She was successful, but remained a difficult test not only for Sergei, but for everyone who loved him.
After the illness, the body of the Queen was so weakened that he had to leave work for several months. But as soon as it became easier, Sergei enthusiastically set to work by K. E. Tsiolkovsky "Jet Airplane".
He read carefully, several times rereading the passages that interested him, making notes. He seemed to try on the ideas expressed by Tsiolkovsky, he wanted to think of something, to try something. “We must try to create a rocket for flight into atmospheric space. The matter is complicated, first of all, it is necessary to create an aircraft with a jet engine, and a jet-powered glider should become the prototype of such an aircraft. So in the mind of the Queen, two words firmly merged: " rocket"And" glider"- into one - a rocket plane.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was still interested in aviation, but the desire to find the means to fly higher, faster, farther led him to the idea of ​​​​investigating the possibilities of jet propulsion. He agreed with K. E. Tsiolkovsky: "The era of propeller-driven airplanes should be followed by the era of jet airplanes, or stratosphere airplanes."
Once on the street, by chance, Korolev met a man with whom he had been looking for a meeting for a long time. It was Friedrich Arturovich Zander, a rocket engine designer, a follower of Tsiolkovsky. Zander had already heard about the Queen. They got to know each other better. Zander invited Korolev to collaborate with a group of scientists engaged in practical research into the possibilities of using jet propulsion. Conventionally, it was called GIRD: a group for the study of jet propulsion.
In March 1931, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev returned to work at TsAGI, combining work in the Jet Propulsion Study Group (GIRD). It was created in August 1931, under the Bureau of Air Engineering of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim (DOSAAF), in the year of the 75th anniversary of the birth of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. GIRD became the center where all those interested in rocket technology flocked. F. A. Zander, who played an important role in the development of theoretical and practical issues of space navigation, was appointed its leader. The Technical Council was headed by S.P. Korolev. The age of employees, with a few exceptions, did not exceed twenty-five years. The GIRD was located in an abandoned basement at 19 Sadovo-Spasskaya Street.
On August 6, 1931, he married Xenia Vincentini, whom he had long and dearly loved.
Fate, it seemed, again became favorable to Sergei. Beloved girl with him, mother, stepfather, grandmother - everything is nearby. They are good together. At work at TsAGI, everything is slowly moving forward. The days raced on uncontrollably.
The working day of the Queen began at 7 o'clock in the morning and ended around midnight. The first half of the day went to work at Grigorovich Design Bureau - the autopilot required a lot of time - then GIRD. There was a difficult organizational period, which took a lot of strength from Sergei Pavlovich.
The idea of ​​creating jet engines excited many minds in those years outside the USSR. 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 Oberth, the American professor Goddard, and others.
At first, the girdovites carried out active administrative propaganda and organizational work, immediately becoming the center where all those interested in rocket technology flocked. Speaking in the press, lecturing at enterprises, the Girda people attracted new supporters of Tsiolkovsky's ideas into their ranks. But they saw their main task in practical work.
By the beginning of the organization of a group of rocket scientists, F. A. Zander already had at his disposal significant theoretical and experimental material accumulated while working on one of the country's first laboratory jet engines OR-1, powered by compressed air and gasoline. An important step in this direction was a letter to Kaluga to K. E. Tsiolkovsky in September of the same year with the aim of drawing his attention to his work. It announced the organization of GIRD and asked to be a consultant on scientific and technical issues. Konstantin Eduardovich warmly responded to the call of Muscovites and, despite his age and ailments, helped in any way he could. “I am surprised and rejoice at your energy,” the Kaluga seer wrote to the Girdovites, “your activity is extraordinary and useful ...”.
At one of the first meetings of the Girdovites, S.P. Korolev proposed to build a jet glider - a prototype of the future aircraft. As soon as the idea of ​​a rocket plane was accepted by OSOAVIAKHIM, Korolev again flashed his assertiveness, the ability to organize a business, to captivate everyone with it.
On October 5, at the OSOAVIAKHIMA airfield, Korolev and Zander met with B.I.

S. P. Korolev and B. I. Cheranovsky
at Beach-8 glider

Korolev persuaded the designer to familiarize himself with the OR-1 jet engine, created by Zander. Sergei Pavlovich believed that with mutual trust in each other, a conceived rocket plane could appear. A work plan was drawn up, a draft agreement was prepared between the Bureau of Aircraft Engineering of the Central Council of OSOAVIAKHIMA and the designers of the airframe and engine - Cheranovsky and Zander. Under this agreement, Zander took over the design and development of drawings for an experimental OR-2 jet engine for the RP-1 jet aircraft. In turn, OSOAVIAKHIM assumed financial expenses and economic concerns. Later, all responsibility for the performance of work on the engine and rocket plane fell on S.P. Korolev.
In February 1932, Korolev himself tested the autopilot in flight.
Day after day, the GIRD team conducted experimental research, expanded research topics, and established business ties with scientific institutions. S.P. Korolev showed his remarkable talent as an organizer. He thought about how to find the necessary equipment, form creative and production teams, place people in such a way that everyone would be interested, and this would contribute to success. A single plan for the creative life of GIRD appeared, in which all services were interconnected. The established paperwork - folders with incoming and outgoing documents, orders and instructions issued against receipt, entrance with passes - everything asserted the corresponding strict order, inspired every girdovite that he was an employee of an important scientific institution for the country. The team of rocket scientists appreciated the Queen. Despite his youth, everyone respectfully called him Sergei Pavlovich.
GIRD became a school for many future designers and, above all, for Sergei Pavlovich Korolev himself.
The work of the guilders was crowned with success. On August 17, 1933, at the Nakhabino training ground near Moscow, the first Soviet rocket GIRD-09 designed by M.K. Tikhonravov on liquid fuel rushed into the sky. Sergei Pavlovich dictated the act: “The launch took place at station No. 17 of the Nakhabino engineering range on August 17 at 19:00. The weight of the object is 18 kilograms. Fuel weight - solid gasoline - 1 kilogram, oxygen - 3.45 kilograms, pressure in the oxygen tank 13.5 atmospheres. The duration of the flight from the moment of launch to the moment of firing is 18 seconds. The height of the vertical rise by eye is about four hundred meters. This success made the Girdians finally believe in their strength. Unfortunately, F. A. Zander, who was the soul of the whole thing, never saw the launch of the rocket. Shortly before that, on March 28, he died, he died of typhus while on vacation in Kislovodsk. By a special resolution, the Central Council of OSOAVIAKHIM assigned the name of F.A. Zander to GIRD.
In 1933, the dream of rocket enthusiasts to create a single rocket center finally came true. Cutting off all bureaucratic obstacles, by personal order of the Revolutionary Military Council of M.N. Tukhachevsky, with a deep understanding of fundamentally new work, the GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL) were merged into the Reactive Research Institute (RNII). I. T. Kleimenov (head of the GDL) was appointed head of the institute, and S. P. Korolev was appointed his deputy for scientific work. He was given the official rank of divisional engineer (in modern terms, the rank of lieutenant general of the technical troops). High rank at 26!
At the same time, S.P. Korolev and M.K. Tikhonravov were awarded the highest award of the defense society - the badge "For active defense work."
In March 1934, the first All-Union Conference on the Study of the Stratosphere was held in Leningrad. Korolev made a report on the possibility of a man flying into the stratosphere on a rocket plane, showed that liquid fuel is preferable for such a flight, since it is more efficient than solid fuel and makes it possible to control the engine. He told how he sees the first jet ship. According to Korolev's calculations, the pilot's cabin must be airtight, weighing at least two thousand kilograms, have a "life reserve" for a person and accommodate crews of one to two people. Korolev spoke about the difficulties associated with the creation of a rocket of this class, but also managed to convince everyone that they were ultimately surmountable. Sergei Pavlovich saw success primarily in coordinating the efforts of rocket scientists and representatives of a number of other fields of science and technology.
In 1934, S.P. Korolev's first printed work "Rocket flight in the stratosphere" was published. The book described various types of aircraft, the author convincingly argued the importance of ballistic, that is, wingless missiles, and also talked about the need to create, first of all, a completely new jet engine, at altitude and, perhaps, someday even in interplanetary space. "The rocket is a very serious weapon," the author warned in his work. Sergei Pavlovich sent a copy of the book to K. E. 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 give his address and deprived him of the opportunity to personally thank for the book.
The summer and autumn of 1935 were filled with urgent matters for Sergei Pavlovich. He was appointed head of the cruise missile sector. In February 1936, a new large department of jet aircraft was created at the RNII. Sergey Pavlovich is appointed his head, and in fact, the chief designer, who thus received the opportunity to work on a whole family of automatically controlled and manned rocket aircraft (RLA). It was they who, according to his convictions, could make up the first complex of guided missile weapons in history. Korolev pays the lion's share of his attention to the development and formation of the defense complex.
In those years, people's enthusiasm knew no bounds. Gradually, a solid scientific and technical base was created for rocket enthusiasts. But at the same time, Stalin's personality cult began to take shape. The approach of war was also felt. The attention of many scientists was increasingly focused on defense issues. Many purely scientific ideas had to be put aside. Korolev dreamed of coming to grips with the rocket plane, but his plan then was not destined to come true.
Not everything went smoothly in the newly created institute. Disagreements were revealed regarding the primary tasks of the Rocket Institute between I. T. Kleimenov and S. P. Korolev, as a result of which Korolev was removed to the ordinary position of senior engineer.
In the autumn of 1937, a wave of repression and arbitrariness that swept the country reached the Rocket Institute (RNII). Among other "military conspirators" M. N. Tukhachevsky was shot. The cleaning of their near and far surroundings began. The head of the Central Design Bureau (TsKB-29), specially created by the People's Commissariat, A. N. Tupolev, was arrested and placed behind bars. Not only Tupolev ended up in this closed Central Design Bureau, but also the “enemies of the people” arrested on slander - famous designers in the aviation world V. M. Myasishchev, V. M. Petlyakov, R. L. Bartini and others. In Moscow, on Radio Street, a seven-story TsAGI building was converted into a prison for them, allocating rooms for housing and design work. Specialists here worked not out of fear, but out of conscience, realizing that their cause was necessary for the country, and firmly believing that they would soon sort it out and make sure of their innocence.
In the RNII, S.P. Korolev was the first to feel the tangible blows of this inexorable wave.

Sergei Pavlovich with his daughter Natasha (left)
and niece Xana (right), 1938

The queen was demoted without reducing the amount of work. They began to suspend the work carried out by Sergei Pavlovich. On June 27, 1938, the Queen was arrested. They came for him at night. During the investigation, Korolyov was accused of allegedly being a member of a Trotskyist anti-Soviet counter-revolutionary group and engaging in sabotage in the field of military equipment, that all those previously arrested had given such evidence against him. On September 27, 1938, "justice" had its say: ten years in labor camps. Place of exile - Kolyma. Sergei Pavlovich was only thirty-one years old.
Hard labor began - along with the rest of the prisoners, Korolev worked from morning to night, extracting gold sand. But most of all, Sergei Pavlovich was oppressed, his soul was burned by the consciousness of judicial injustice, the bias and far-fetchedness of the accusation, and this label is “enemy of the people.” Korolev wrote letters to Moscow asking him to reconsider his case. The deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the famous pilots V. S. Grizodubova and M. M. Gromov fought to alleviate his fate. A. N. Tupolev, who himself was behind bars within the walls of the Central Design Bureau, created by the NKVD, insisted that several engineers and designers, including Korolev, be transferred to him. But the appointment of L.P. Beria as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs played a decisive role in this matter, who, in order to relieve popular tension, began a partial review of cases. Among them was the case of the Queen. On June 13, 1939, he was returned to Moscow. But another year in Butyrka prison turned out to be in vain - Korolev was again found guilty and sentenced to "eight years in labor camps."
It seemed that Korolev could not bear this blow, but her unbending will and faith in her own rightness prevailed. After much deliberation, Korolev decides to turn personally to I. V. Stalin. In this letter, Sergei Pavlovich focused not on his personal situation, but on the interests of the country, its defense, for which he worked tirelessly, sparing himself. Apparently, the voice of the Queen was still heard. On September 13, 1940, after numerous petitions, including the famous pilots V. S. Grizodubov, M. M. Gromov and A. N. Tupolev, he was transferred to the Special Technical Bureau of the NKVD in the group of A. N. Tupolev.
There, the thirty-three-year-old Korolev was no longer in fits and starts, as during his diploma, but in his daily work he went through the Tupolev Higher School of Aircraft Engineering. Sergey Pavlovich worked, according to the memoirs of the "cellmates", furiously, organically joining the common cause. Together with other scientists, he worked on the creation of a dive bomber - 103, under the guidance of Tupolev himself, whom he considered the most respected aviation teacher. Here in the Central Design Bureau he met the beginning of the war, then evacuated with everyone to Omsk. Korolev asked to be a pilot for the front, but Tupolev, who had already been released from prison by that time, having recognized and appreciated him even better, did not let him go, saying: “And who will build the aircraft?”
Korolev, like a sponge, absorbed everything new that appeared in the aircraft industry, without losing hope that the experience gained would be useful to him. Soon Korolev was appointed deputy head of the assembly shop for Tu-2. It was a lot of trust. But the idea of ​​creating a jet aircraft did not leave him. He did not know then that, despite all the difficulties, in February 1940, flight tests of the first rocket glider with a liquid-propellant rocket engine took place in our country. True, he was led by a towing aircraft. But it was a very important fact and the first step in the development of jet aviation. Prior to this flight, the world practice did not yet know such an experience. He had a positive impact on jet-powered flying.
In July 1941, the Tupolev design bureau, together with the plant, was evacuated beyond the Urals - to Omsk. Soon Korolev was appointed deputy head of the assembly shop, where work was underway on the construction of the TU-2 bomber. Having thoroughly understood the affairs, he drew up a clear plan for the work of each unit, in fact, each of the one hundred and fifty employees.
By mid-December 1941, flight tests of the TU-2 began, and the first aircraft with a jet engine was flown. It was piloted by test pilot Grigory Bakhchivandzhi. and in August 1942, the state commission accepted the TU-2 for military trials, and then for mass production. This aircraft is recognized as much better than the German and Italian bombers.
Now the well-known aircraft designed by Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev, Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin, Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov fly in all directions of the globe. Multi-seat passenger liners conquer the airspace at speeds up to a thousand kilometers per hour. This speed is achieved through the use of heat engines operating on the principle of jet propulsion.
The opportunity to do much more for the development of jet technology was long before the war, but, unfortunately, among the major military experts at that time, not everyone understood the great future of the jet engine. It is easy to imagine how the course of the war would have changed if jet aircraft and artillery rocket launchers had been put into production two or three years before the start of the fascist invasion of our Motherland. The war could have been won with less bloodshed.
In the suburbs of Omsk, in parallel with Tupolev, the research team of V. M. Myasishchev worked. They completed the development of the DVM-102 long-range high-altitude bomber. The designer was looking for an experienced person in the technology department and invited Sergei Pavlovich. The deeper Korolev delved into the essence of production technology, the more often he returned to the idea of ​​​​using the powerful forces hidden in jet propulsion in aviation, and the more energetically he worked on the project of a rocket aircraft.
But work on the 102nd was soon interrupted. Myasishchev was transferred to Kazan to aircraft plant No. 22. From him, Korolev learned that there was a "sharashka" in Kazan at aircraft engine plant No. 16, where they were working on a jet engine. He began to fuss about changing the place of detention in order to be closer to jet technology, and achieved his goal - in November 1942, Korolev was transferred to Kazan in the Glushkov Design Bureau.
He was well received at the Design Bureau, although he remained a prisoner as before. But life gradually improved. Korolev came to grips with the rocket business, the development of an aviation jet booster.
The Korolev project was appreciated by experts. On January 1, 1943, he was appointed head of a separate group, which was entrusted with the design of an aircraft rocket launcher. But, taking time away from sleep and rest, at the same time as the ARU, Korolev continued to improve the project of a jet interceptor aircraft, begun in Omsk. Back in December 1942, S.P. Korolev presented 58 sheets of calculations, sketches, interceptor aircraft layouts to the management of the engine-building plant and attached an explanatory note. It very succinctly defined the purpose and use of the designed aircraft "as a means of combating German aviation in the air in the defense of ground targets - cities, fortifications, etc., as well as for a sudden and quick attack on enemy ground targets - tanks, batteries, anti-aircraft points , crossing.
A few days later, the management of the plant, despite the very tempting characteristics of the proposed aircraft, nevertheless demanded that Korolev not be distracted from the priority task and focus on finalizing the design of the PE-2 rocket booster. Korolev and his group carried out the order in an unprecedentedly short time - four months. In the final draft of the AGC, it was noted: "RU-1 is a completely new technical device, first implemented on an aircraft for the purpose of testing and testing a jet engine in flight conditions." Korolev, although this was not part of his duties, tested the engine personally, directly in flight at various altitudes and speeds.
Rocket launchers developed by Korolev formed the basis of similar experimental AGCs, which were later used on Lavochkin, Yakovlev, and Sukhoi aircraft.
In August 1944, a long-awaited and at the same time unexpected event took place - S.P. Korolev and the other participants in the work of the ARU were released from prison.
At this time, he was already working together with V.P. Glushko in Kazan at an aircraft engine building plant. They worked out liquid-propellant jet engines as boosters for combat aircraft. Even then, their use gave an increase in speed by 180-200 kilometers per hour.
But the war was going on, and the liberated could not yet go home. Korolev remained: he could not quit the trials without bringing them to the end. Now civilian Sergei Pavlovich lived in his own room, which was allocated to him by the management of the plant.
Korolev began to attack the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry: on October 14, 1944 and July 30, 1945, he sends letters in which he insistently proposes to build long-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles. To this end, Sergei Pavlovich considers it necessary to create a special design bureau with an experimental and experimental base. The main work of the proposed SKB team in 1945-1946. the solid-propellant rocket proposed by him, capable of delivering a warhead to a distance of 70 kilometers, may become. Sergei Pavlovich's proposals did not go unnoticed, and he received the design assignment exactly the one he had hoped for.
The war continued for another four months. On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the German Armed Forces was signed.
Korolev remained in the Kazan Design Bureau for another three months, finishing things, summing up the results of more than two years of work, after he left Omsk and A. N. Tupolev. Volumes of documents. In some - everything about rocket boosters, in others - sketches, sketches, projects, drawings of jet aircraft of various types, business notes to high authorities with proposals on the need to develop rocket science. An exciting surprise brightened up the life of the Queen of the last Kazan days: by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Sergey Pavlovich, like millions of home front workers, was awarded the State Award - a medal "for valiant work in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", and a few days later the long-awaited call came to Moscow.
Only in August 1945 did he leave Kazan forever.
On August 12, 1945, Sergei Pavlovich entered his house. The daughter, who ran into the house, saw a man sitting next to her mother, smiling grandparents, was at first confused, but quickly realizing that in front of her was her father, whom she knew only from an old photograph, but from her mother’s stories, rushed to him and hugged him tightly .
- Dad, why were you on a business trip for so long?
“It happened, Natasha,” was all her father could answer.
The wife of Sergei Pavlovich Kean has also changed a lot over the past seven years. She became stricter, more silent, almost gray-haired, and yet she was only thirty-seven ...
All these years she worked at the Botkin Hospital, treated the wounded, and defended her PhD thesis. She was valued as an excellent trauma surgeon.
Upon returning to Moscow, Korolev was involved in work on the creation of military rocket technology, similar to the captured German FAU rocket. In September 1945, he, along with other specialists, flew to Berlin. Before the trip, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and for the first time in many years he put on a military uniform. Sergei Pavlovich understood that, finally, he was really starting to carry out the work of his whole life. S.P. Korolev, as a specialist who knew all the problems of rocket science better than others, was soon appointed scientific director of the entire program for the study of captured equipment.
It was necessary to fully understand the design and production of the FAU, to try to assemble at least a few German missiles. Under these conditions, the only right decision was made - each of the specialists, depending on the direction of his activity, was responsible for one of the components of the rocket.

S. P. Korolev during missile tests
at the camping gas

The German FAU rocket had the only technical advantage over similar developments by Soviet scientists, whose rocket units developed a thrust of one and a half tons. " FAU" But he lifted into the sky and carried away two hundred kilometers from the start an engine with a thrust of 25 tons. (Starting from the 1920s, German scientists and engineers showed a constant increased interest in the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky and his followers, in rocket organizations that began to implement his ideas).
S.P. Korolev, as a specialist who knew better than others all the problems of rocket science in the complex, became the unofficial leader of the group. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, who was then commander-in-chief of the group of Soviet troops in Germany, provided great assistance to the work.
In October, he was notified of the award of the Order of the Badge of Honor. It was not in vain that he worked throughout the war, the Motherland appreciated his merits.
Meanwhile, the international situation was becoming more and more complicated. Military-political blocs directed against the USSR began to be created. The menacing clouds of the Cold War hang over the world. An explosive situation was created, and it was necessary to urgently increase the country's defense capability. On May 13, 1946, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the creation of a domestic rocket industry. In Podlipki near Moscow, a scientific and technical center for the development of liquid-fuel rockets was organized. In addition to the new research institute, not far from Podlipki, in Bolshevo, there appeared the Research Institute-4 of the military department. His task was to develop the problems of using rocket technology in the Soviet Army. At the same time, in the Astrakhan steppe, near the village of Kapustin Yar, a missile test site was being built.
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was appointed head of the department and chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles of the main scientific and technical institute (NII-88).
Work on the study of captured missiles continued. According to the results of the study, Soviet specialists prepared a multi-volume work "Collection of materials for the study of captured rocket technology." The conclusion of the scientists was unequivocal: despite the great practical achievements, “the German path of development of rocket technology did not contain any revelations ...” We must take into account their experience, but continue to go our own way, which began back in the 30s by the teams of the GDL, GIRD and Reactive Science and Technology. research institute (RNII).
In February 1947, Korolev returned to Moscow. There was a break with his wife Ksana, she did not agree with the need to go to Podlipki, lose her job and friends.
Sergei Pavlovich set to work in Podlipki. He supervises the assembly and fine-tuning of missiles delivered from Germany by a special train, and is building the first domestic long-range missile R-1. The more Sergei Pavlovich delved into the work, the more problems arose. The creation of a rocket is a continuous mutual linkage between the developers of individual systems, a constant struggle for every kilogram of the weight of the structure. This is also an age-old compromise between old, proven and, therefore, reliable principles and devices and still insufficiently tested, with unpredictable reliability, but more promising and promising solutions.
A lot of ideas were born. He, the Chief Designer, should have evaluated each one, thought it over many times before giving it a go. Much was refuted by practice, but something became necessary. Scientific solutions sometimes seemed so bold that they smacked of fantasy, and it was them that Korolev took into service; but it was not always possible to implement.
In 1947, S.P. Korolev was instructed to report on the development of the rocket to Stalin. Before entering the office, he was warned not to ask any questions, to be extremely brief. They were not allowed to take a small folder with sheets of notes. Stalin returned the greeting, but did not shake hands. Stalin was outwardly restrained, it was difficult to understand whether he approved of what Korolev said or not. But this meeting still played a positive role.
On October 18, 1947, the launch of the first image of the A-4 ballistic missile, assembled and debugged under the guidance of S.P. Korolev, took place at the Kapustin Yar training ground. The tests were considered successful.
In the same year, MVTU recruited students for a new specialized faculty. S.P. Korolev gave a course of lectures there on "Fundamentals of designing long-range ballistic missiles."
But the Chief Designer himself remained an "eternal student" - he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the evening University of Marxism-Leninism, attended lectures by scientists at the metropolitan institutes of his choice.
On August 29, 1949, an atomic bomb was tested in Kazakhstan in the presence of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army, party and government leaders. The Soviet Union has shown that it has created atomic weapons and can give a worthy rebuff to any aggressor. But the country was surrounded on all sides by the military bases of the Anglo-American military bloc. The problem of delivering a new type of weapon to the target with missiles has become paramount. Yesterday's plans of the OKB were embodied in real deeds. The R-2 missile entered service with the Soviet Army in 1951, in the middle of 1953 the first launch of the R-5 missile took place, later it began to be finalized for an atomic warhead. A special place in those years was occupied by the operational-tactical missile launched in April 1953 under the symbol "11".

After successful launches
visit mother, 1951

Significant success was achieved in the creation of geophysical rockets based on combat vehicles, which later received the name academic. Scientific research was carried out on them with the help of various instruments. At the request of scientists, containers with experimental biological objects, including dogs, returned to the ground, rose to the upper layers of the atmosphere at different heights from 100 to 500 km. There was a new active process of studying the stratosphere, interrupted by the war, sounding the depths of the ionosphere. Science has come to grips with the study of the conditions for the implementation of manned flights. Everything that was done in this direction took place with the active practical and organizational support of Korolev.
In 1954, the head of the Design Bureau, S.P. Korolev, signed fifteen volumes of the preliminary design of the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and an atlas of drawings to it.
Rockets reliably stood up for the defense of the Motherland. The famous royal motto: “Rocket is defense and science!”, with which Korolev came to rocket technology, was gradually implemented. An intercontinental missile was born: ground testing of its systems and engines was underway. With her he connected his old scientific dreams. The Queen has already seen satellites, launches of animals, the flight of a man in orbit around the Earth, the launch of rockets to the Moon, Venus, Mars.
Korolev's proposal to launch an artificial Earth satellite was supported by the USSR Academy of Sciences. M. I. Tikhonravov transferred to the Korolev Design Bureau and began to staff his department for the development of artificial Earth satellites. S.P. Korolev uses every opportunity to connect the broad scientific community to ideas about space. He meets with astronomers, physicists, doctors, sociologists and lawyers. Gradually, the idea of ​​a breakthrough into space unites many supporters of its implementation.
In April 1956, on the initiative of Korolev, the USSR Academy of Sciences convened an All-Union Conference on the Study of the Upper Atmosphere. Sergei Pavlovich makes a report on it “Investigation of the upper layers of the atmosphere with the help of long-range missiles”. At this conference, he said from the rostrum that the task of carrying out a manned flight of a man in a rocket is realistically feasible.
The Interdepartmental Council, chaired by Academician M.V. Keldysh, as a result of a thorough study of the plan for the study of near-Earth space, came to the conclusion not to be limited to one option. It was recommended to create several aircraft, differing from each other in the composition of the equipment, weight.
The Design Bureau began to create several variants of a satellite-laboratory weighing up to 1300 kg. On one of the variants of such a satellite in a special container, it was supposed to send the first living creature, a dog, on a near-Earth journey.
There were disputes about the shape of the first satellite of the Earth.
- A ball and only a ball! Korolev insisted. - The ball, its shape, flow conditions from the point of view of aerodynamics are thoroughly studied, all the pluses and minuses are known. But it's not that. Understand - the first! When humanity sees an artificial satellite, it should evoke good feelings in everyone. What could be more expressive than a ball? It is close to the shape of the natural celestial bodies of the solar system. People will perceive the satellite as a symbol of the space age. I consider it necessary to install transmitters on board so that radio amateurs of all countries can receive their call signs. The flight orbits must be calculated in such a way that everyone from the Earth could, with the help of the simplest optical instruments, see the flight of the Soviet satellite.

The launch of the first Earth satellite took place on October 3, 2957 at 22:00 Moscow time. It was a worldwide sensation.
And at the end of 1957, the final stage of preparations for the launch of the second artificial Earth satellite had already begun. He weighed six times more than the first, on board was a cabin for a dog named Laika. It depended on the success of the second launch whether there would be a manned flight into space in the near future or not.
On the morning of November 3, 1957, the second satellite was launched. Observations of Laika lasted 7 days. From this flight, Laika did not return to Earth, but scientists obtained very valuable data on the effect of weightlessness on a living organism.

In the hands of Sergei Pavlovich one of
the first dogs to fly on a rocket

At the Korolev Design Bureau, under his personal leadership at that time, on the basis of the Sputnik carrier, a three-stage carrier rocket was created Vostok, which could develop a second cosmic speed - 11 kilometers per second, necessary to reach the Moon, or to be carried into Earth orbit payloads over four and a half tons.
On February 15, 1958, the Queen was presented with a draft aircraft, consisting of two compartments: an instrument-aggregate compartment and a cockpit for the pilot. But problems arose one after another. The main one was the development of a way to return the ship from space to Earth.
Discussions, disputes, mutually exclusive judgments, ideas, fantastic projects, misunderstanding - all this Korolev carried on his shoulders, brought together, selected the best option. It is unlikely that anyone else would have been able to do it. Only the comprehensive knowledge of the subject, the assertiveness and conviction of Sergei Pavlovich, his unbending will could withstand all this and achieve the desired results in such a short time.
The second stage of work on the ship is the specific development of its "stuffing", the design of life support systems, the pilot's seat, instrument panel, flight control systems, radio communications, telemetry and much more. All this must strictly correspond to its purpose and fit into a strictly defined mass and size. Engineers remembered the strict instruction of the Queen - "not to reinvent the wheel." They tried to take ready-made units and devices produced by the radio-electronic industry, created many new systems, and tried to combine all this on the ship so that various mechanics became a “living” complex that worked reliably.
S.P. Korolev felt the interconnection between the numerous problems of creating a ship so subtly that by subordinating all its elements to a single technical concept, he did not suppress the creative individuality of the development participants, and sought to achieve independence and initiative for everyone.
The Korolev Design Bureau knew that the Americans were also intensively working on the creation of a manned spacecraft - the Mercury spacecraft. The Americans still had less rocket capabilities for space flights, but could invest more in their implementation. There was an unannounced competition between the designers of the two countries.
At the end of 1959, several ready-made descenders descended for ground testing. The descent compartment was a silver ball with a diameter of 2.4 meters.
" Ball"Looked like an underwater bathyscaphe, and its weight was about two and a half tons with a volume of more than five cubic meters. At the same time, the cosmonaut's cabin accounted for not much more than one and a half cubic meters.
The rest of the space was filled with devices and systems that created normal conditions for the flight of a man and his return to Earth.
At the beginning of 1960, aircraft tests of the descent vehicle were carried out, and at the same time, the instrument compartment of the spacecraft was being tested.

S. P. Korolev, I. V. Kurchatov, and M. V. Keldysh

At the same time, work was underway on the lunar program. On January 2, 1959, the first automatic station "Luna -1" was launched.
But somewhere there was an error, and the first "lunar" did not reach the moon, but rushed in close proximity to it and entered the near-solar orbit, becoming the first artificial planet in our solar system. Although the final goal was not achieved, the station's equipment provided unique data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space during the flight. The new experiment of our scientists received worldwide recognition and entered the history of astronautics as the beginning of interplanetary communications.
The launch of "Luna -2" took place on September 12, 1959 at 0 hours 2 minutes 24 seconds. The second "Lunnik" delivered a pennant with the coat of arms of the Soviet Union to the surface of the Moon.
October 7 at 6:30 Moscow time "Luna -3" from a distance of 60-70 thousand meters from the Moon began photographing the lunar surface, which lasted 40 minutes. For the first time, earthlings saw pictures of the far side of the moon! The flight of "Luna -3" made it possible to begin work on the creation of a lunar globe.
Sergei Pavlovich's dream of manned flight to the Moon and planets was gradually turning into reality.
By the beginning of 1960, a special commission for the selection of candidates for the first cosmonaut corps formed it: Yuri Gagarin, German Titov, Pavel Popovich, Valery Bykovsky, Vladimir Komarov, Pavel Belyaev, Alexei Leonov, Boris Volynov, Evgeny Khrunov, Viktor Gorbatko, Georgy Shonin and others high class fighter pilots. A cosmonaut training center was established in the Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region; journalists dubbed it "Star City".
On March 14, 1960, training sessions began. For the first time in history, it was necessary to prepare people for a flight into the unknown, observe their condition during an unprecedented flight, return them to Earth and draw conclusions about the possibility of further human flights into space. Specialists were especially interested in weightlessness. A state close to weightlessness was created on a TU-104 aircraft at an altitude of 8000 meters.
The cosmonauts were the first to test specially designed centrifuges on themselves to determine the capabilities of a person during launch overloads and especially when returning to Earth. Experience has shown that a person should be placed in a chair in a supine position at a certain angle. It turned out that a trained person can withstand a short-term increase in his weight by 26 times. In early May 1960, one of the prototypes of the Vostok was launched - the KP ship. He went into orbit without thermal protection and without astronauts. On the 65th orbit on May 19, it was decided to return the ship to Earth. But the brake installation did not work, but performed the role of an accelerator, and the ship went into another orbit. The launch of the second, improved satellite ship took place three months later. On board were the dogs Belka and Strelka, mice, rats, insects, plants, grains of cereals, and some microbes. The flight and return went strictly according to the program.
April 1961 came. At the Baikonur cosmodrome, pre-launch work was going on at a busy pace. People did not notice the boundaries of day and night, sometimes they did not leave the object for hours, after resting for an hour or two on folding beds, they continued to work. Manned space flight was being prepared.
The State Commission had to decide which of the cosmonauts would fly first. In Gagarin's characterization, it was written: “The mood is usually a little high, probably because he has everything in order with humor and laughter. At the same time, he is sober and reasonable, endowed with boundless self-control. Training transfers easily, works effectively. Developed very harmoniously. Sincere. Pure in soul and body. Polite, tactful, accurate to the point of punctuality. Modest. Great memory. He stands out among his comrades with a wide range of active attention, quick wit, quick reaction. Diligent. Carefully preparing for classes and training. He does not hesitate to defend the point of view, which he considers correct.
On April 8, 1961, the State Commission for organizing the first manned flight into space approved the date of the flight - April 12 - and the candidacy of the first cosmonaut - Yuri Alexandrovich Gagarin. German Stepanovich Titov was appointed reserve pilot.
On the morning of April 11, the space complex was taken to the launch pad. Korolev looked at the rocket as if for the first time. The height of the three-stage carrier was 38 meters, the total flight weight with the ship was 287 tons. At the start and the first stage, the first two stages work synchronously, consisting of five blocks equipped with their own engines. Having worked out their fuel resource, the four side blocks that make up the first stage of the rocket are discarded and fall to the ground. The remaining central block - the second stage - continues to work with the forces of gravity, lifting the rocket higher and higher. But only after turning on the last - third stage - the speed reaches the desired value. The ship goes into orbit, becoming a satellite of the Earth.
On April 12, 1961, Sergei Pavlovich outwardly seemed imperturbable, maybe only a little more than usual concentrated: his eyebrows stretched into a line, almost converged on the bridge of his nose, forming a deep crease, his lips were tightly compressed, his eyes were wary. Internally, Korolev is tense to the limit.
At the launch site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, there was a rocket ready for launch. Against the background of the huge disk of the Sun, illuminated by bright rays, it seemed like a work of art, and not a work of engineering. Not far away, members of the state commission gathered - scientists, designers, testers, rocket scientists. Yuri Gagarin got out of the bus that arrived. He reported to the chairman of the state commission about his readiness for flight and, after saying goodbye to everyone, went to the foot of the rocket. The last step on the Earth, the last - pre-flight. His first steps on Earth after the flight will mark the beginning of a New Era.
Farewell speech of the astronaut, applause, wishes of a happy journey. Gagarin climbs into the cabin of the ship.
The most crucial moments have come for those who created the rocket and the ship, and prepared them for launch. Everyone's nerves were overwhelmed. The low, monotonous sound of a chronometer counting down seconds resounded in his head like a hammer on an anvil. Slowly, one after another, commands were issued. Sergei Pavlovich dubbed them on board the Vostok to Yuri Gagarin, and it seemed that it was he who was giving them away.

Korolev at the Mission Control Center

Climb! - Korolev almost shouted into the microphone.
The rocket at first slowly, as if reluctantly, and then rushes up faster and faster. A torch of flame hits the concrete of the launch pad.
- Go! - came the happy voice of the astronaut into the bunker.
This unexpected and so appropriate for the moment, daring “let's go” relieved nervous tension in an instant.
Everyone smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
Man in space!
The flight lasted 108 minutes and was not without trouble. When the braking propulsion system turned on, Vostok entered the descent trajectory, the descent vehicle undocked from the ship with a delay of almost 10 minutes.
At 10 hours 55 minutes, a landing took place near Saratov. Everything is fine. The astronaut is unharmed and feels good.
In these April days, the whole world uttered in Russian the words that immediately became famous: “Gagarin”, “East”, “Cosmos”. World fame fell on Gagarin, in a few hours he became the favorite of the entire planet. And Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, step by step for 30 years, stubbornly marching towards his victory, remained until the end of his days an unknown chief designer.

S. P. Korolev congratulates Yu. A. Gagarin on
successful flight, April 1961

His name was kept secret. Sergei Pavlovich signed his scientific works and articles in the press with the pseudonym "Professor K. Sergeev."
Years of imprisonment, years of hard work at the limit of human capabilities undermined the health of Sergei Pavlovich, about which he never complained. He did not like to be treated. After Gagarin's flight, he had a little less than five years to live.

1st Cosmonaut Detachment, May 1961
From left to right sitting: P. Popovich, V. Gorbatko,
S. Khrunov, Yu. Gagarin, S. Korolev, N. Koroleva
with Popovich's daughter Natasha, 1st chief
Cosmonaut Training Center E. Karpov,
N. Nikitin, head of the TsNIIAK department E. Fedorov.
Middle row: A. Leonov, A. Nikolaev, M. Rafikov,
D.Zaikin, B.Volnov, G.Titov, G.Nelyubov,
V. Bykovsky, G. Shonin.
Top row: V. Filatiev, I. Anikeev, P. Belyaev.

Here are the main ideas and accomplishments of these last years:
1962 - S.P. Korolev supervised: flight tests of the first solid-fuel strategic rocket, joint flight of two Vostok spacecraft piloted by Andrian Nikolaev and Pavel Popovich, launch of the Mars-1 interplanetary station; prepared "Notes on a heavy interplanetary ship and a heavy orbital station"; received the government's consent to finalize the heavy N-1 rocket, bringing its payload to 75-100 tons.
1963 - Led the space flight of the Vostok spacecraft, piloted by Valery Bykovsky and the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova; completed the scientific and technical report “On the possibility of using the Vostok spacecraft for experimental research on promising cosmonautics programs; submitted a proposal to the government on the creation of a lunar manned spacecraft and a landing module for the multi-purpose N-1 superrocket.

S. P. Korolev with V. V. Nikolaeva-Tereshkova,
Yu. A. Gagarin and V. F. Bykovsky, June 1963

1964 - Managed the flight of satellites of the Electron system, as well as the three-seat Vostok spacecraft with cosmonauts - pilot Vladimir Komarov, designer Konstantin Fioktisov and doctor Boris Yegorov; conducted testing of the Soyuz launch vehicle with a third stage of increased power; continued work on the modification of H-1.
1965 - Supervised: the creation of a lunar spacecraft and an upper stage for flying around the moon using a heavy carrier UR-500 designed by V.N. Chelomey, the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov on board and manned spacewalks; headed the creation of the Soyuz multi-purpose spacecraft, conducted the Zond experiment with photographing the far side of the Moon and testing the Molniya communications satellite.
1966 - S.P. Korolev sent a report on scientific activities for 1965 to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; under the pseudonym "Professor K. Sergeev" published on January 1 in Pravda an article "Steps into the Future"; convened as the head of the design bureau and his chief designer a meeting of his deputies to discuss tasks for the near future.
On January 16, 1966, S.P. Korolev died during an operation. The legend of the nameless designer was dispelled by the harsh and mournful lines of the government obituary. Earthlings learned that Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was "hiding" under the name of the mysterious Chief.

Memorial plaque on the Kremlin wall,
where the urn with the ashes of Academician S.P. Korolev is buried

Mother, daughter and grandson of S. P. Korolev lay
flowers to the grave of S. P. Korolev

Looking back at the entire life path of S.P. Korolev, starting with his youthful passion for gliding and ending with his last days, one can emphasize the most important feature of his character - the desire to do the unusual. The gliders created according to his drawings were always original. And rocket technology, especially in the distant pre-war years, fascinated him with its unusualness, boldly romantic future, "space prospects." Sergei Pavlovich foresaw and, like few, deeply understood what a significant contribution to scientific and technological progress it could become, how it would help strengthen the defense capability of our country in those difficult years. And he gave all his strength, knowledge and talent to its creation and improvement.

Memorial plaque of Academician S.P. Korolev
on the building of Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman

Until quite recently, the people of the Earth with bated breath followed every message about achievements in the field of space flights, and today ordinary working days go on in space and only on significant dates they remember those whose name is associated with the very first and therefore the most difficult steps into space. Among them - S. P. Korolev, Chief Designer of the first rocket and space systems.
If Korolyov had lived several centuries ago, he might have sailed to discover new lands. In our century, he helped to make mankind more serious - the first step towards the unknown worlds of the Universe.

Monument to the Queen in Zhytomyr

Monument to the Queen in the city of Baikonur

As a sign of recognition of the merits of S.P. Korolev, there are monuments - 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. In commemoration of Korolev's merits in the exploration of the Moon, the world astronomical community assigned his name to one of the large ring-shaped mountain formations on the Moon - the thalassoid.

S. P. Korolev

Literature:

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16. Space. Stars and planets. Space flights. Jet planes. Television [Text]: encyclopedia of a young scientist. - M.: ROSMEN, 2000. - 133 p.: ill.
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The daughter of the legendary designer and scientist Natalya Sergeevna Koroleva spoke about the life and fate of her father in an interview with the portal of the Russian Historical Society.

- Natalya Sergeevna, the name Korolev is known all over the world. Sergei Korolev is a man who not only stood at the origins of Russian cosmonautics, he opened the space era in the history of mankind. How do you remember him?

- I was always struck by his extraordinary determination, because from an early age he set as his goal the conquest of the sky. And of course, amazing organization and ability to work. Even at school, according to my mother, who studied with him in the same class, he did not tolerate empty talk, he always led a strict daily routine, he valued time very much. He was very brave in dealing with all important issues. A particularly bold decision was made when during the landing of Belyaev and Leonov the automatic landing system failed and it was necessary to give an answer in just a minute. And what is it - to give an answer in a minute? If you try the automatic landing again, but it does not work, then the ship could land outside the territory of our country. And this could not be allowed. It was necessary to give permission for a manual landing, and he gave this permission. Or if we talk about the launch of Gagarin: after all, there were five tests of the ship with dogs and a dummy, but only two of them were successful - on March 9 and March 25, 1961. However, this gave confidence to my father that everything should be all right. He risked human life and the future of astronautics, because if there had been some kind of failure, then there would have been a negative attitude towards space flights in principle.

What is your first memory of your father? He was repressed when you were still a child... Do you remember your first meeting?

“My father was arrested when I was three years old. My mother told me that my father is a pilot and he performs a responsible task. And I told all the children who played with me. When he was brought from Kolyma, he returned back to the Butyrka prison. And on September 18, 1940, he ended up in the Tupolev sharaga. To raise the spirits of the imprisoned specialists, the leadership of the NKVD allowed them to visit their closest relatives. Mom said that dad had arrived and we would meet with him. I was then five years old. I arrived at the Butyrka prison, but did not know that it was a prison. We entered the small courtyard of this prison and then went up to the second floor, where there was a table and four chairs. We sat down with my mother, and from the opposite side came the father and the guard. I immediately asked him: “Dad, how could you sit here on your plane, there is such a small courtyard here?” I thought he flew right here and landed here. Father did not have time to say anything, the guard answered for him: “Oh, girl, it’s easy to sit here, but it’s very difficult to get out of here.” This is my first memory of my father. When he was already released, he came from Kazan on a business trip to Moscow in November 1944. I was at home and immediately recognized him.

The first cosmonaut of the Earth Yuri Gagarin and designer Sergei Korolev Photo: TASS - KP Khabarovsk

What did they usually talk about? Maybe some conversations are especially memorable?

- I was struck by his conviction in the necessity and importance of the cause to which he devoted his life. Here we had such a conversation with him in 1956, then I was doing an internship after the 4th year of the medical institute at the Khotkovo hospital. My father came there - he had free time. We walked with him through the woods for three hours and talked. And of course, I was very interested in what he does. This was before the launch of the first satellite. He told me about space trains, about space stations, about the fact that people will definitely be on the moon, that there will be orbital stations. Of course, I didn’t believe, but he said: “You don’t believe, but it will be, and will be very soon.” He was absolutely convinced of it. And that man will be on the moon. Back in 1945, I was very fond of Jules Verne, I read From a Cannon to the Moon. He saw this book and said: "You know, in 25 years people will be on the moon." I then replied that it was fiction, maybe it will be, but not in our lifetime. And he said: “Remember this day and this hour. It will be, and will be in our lifetime.” Indeed, he was almost not mistaken, only by one year. In 1969, 24 years later, the Americans landed on the moon. Of course, it is a pity that we are not.

- Sergei Pavlovich stood at the origins of the Soviet lunar program, but it was never completed ...

It wasn't completed because he died. After that, there were three unsuccessful launches, and then, when everything was already prepared for the fourth launch, this program was closed. By that time, the Americans were already on the moon. I think if my father had been alive, although, of course, history does not know the subjunctive mood, maybe we would not have given the Moon to the Americans. He dreamed that we, too, would be the first on the moon. In 1962, he wrote notes on a heavy interplanetary ship and a heavy orbital station, where he describes in detail what orbital stations will be like (they didn’t exist then), what interplanetary ships will be, even describes what dishes will be there, how astronauts will eat, what plants will grow on orbital stations. I was just shocked when I read these notes. They were published in my three-volume Father. Sergei Pavlovich was absolutely sure of the importance of the work he was doing, and he could convince literally everyone with this confidence. Even if you listen to the recording, when he gives commands to Gagarin, he says: ““ Cedar ”, I am“ Dawn ”, how do you hear me? Minute readiness. And he says it in a very confident voice. In the book "Father" there is a chapter "Just a man." I write about him as a person. Because I'm not a techie at all, but a doctor, and I tried to avoid technical details.

— Did your father tell the family a lot about his work?

No. He never told his family about his work, he was classified and could not tell anything. My parents separated in 1949 and he had a new wife. And we didn't see each other very often. After the war, until 1952, I lived with two grandmothers and two grandfathers in the apartment of Sergei Pavlovich's mother. We lived in Maryina Grove, my father came there, I absolutely did not know what kind of tragedy was coming in our family, and I found out only on the day of my parents' divorce on June 24, 1949. And I dreamed that when I finish school, we will finally live as one family. My father strictly told me that I would never tell anyone what he was doing. In the questionnaires, I wrote that Korolev is an engineer, and the surname Korolev is quite common, so there were no questions. And even when my father died and I called to work to say that I would not come tomorrow, because my father died. Then the obituary had not yet been printed, no one at work had any idea that this was the chief designer Korolev. Of course, except for the director of my institute, Boris Vasilievich Petrovsky (in 1965-1980, the Minister of Health of the USSR. - Ed.), who operated on him. He died on the operating table during the operation.

Sergei Korolev with his wife and daughter

- Were these the consequences of torture that your father was subjected to during interrogations?

Yes, his jaw was broken. Therefore, during the operation, three experienced anesthesiologists could not insert an endotracheal tube into his trachea. The surgeons did their job, but it was, of course, impossible for a patient with atrial fibrillation to be under mask anesthesia for 8-8 hours. And his heart failed.

Did he eventually admit his guilt during interrogation?

“He admitted when he was told that if you don’t sign today, your wife will be arrested tomorrow and your daughter will be sent to an orphanage. And then, in the name of saving the family, he signed a confession and decided that he would deny everything at the trial. Mom was always afraid that she, too, might be arrested, and was ready for this option: all the documents about my adoption were prepared in advance for my grandmother, my mother’s mother. But at the trial, the father was not allowed to say a single word, the court retired for a meeting, which lasted only a few minutes, and immediately read the guilty verdict: 10 years in labor camps. But thank God it was not an execution.

What followed the verdict? Usually, relatives and friends of the repressed knocked on the thresholds of all offices in order to achieve a review of the case.

When I was writing a book about my father (the second volume is dedicated to his arrest), I cried all the time. I wrote down from the words of my grandmother and mother how they survived this whole situation. It was terrible, of course. But thank God, my grandmother saved him. It's the grandmother. With the help of the petitions of the Heroes of the Soviet Union Gromov and Grizodubova. From the transit prison in Novocherkassk, dad sent a letter in which he wrote: “I am alive and well, here we also heard about the flight of our famous pilots - Valentina Grizodubova ...”. He mentions exactly her, and then at the end of the letter it was written: “My big bow to Uncle Misha.” And we have never had a man with that name in the family. Mom and grandmother thought for a very long time who he was hinting at, and decided that it could only be Mikhail Mikhailovich Gromov. Because his father was connected with him at work, respected him very much, even was once at his house, and therefore he hints at turning to him. Grandmother, not knowing the address, knowing only the street, found Gromov and asked him to write an accompanying paper to her application addressed to the chairman of the Supreme Court, because without such an accompaniment it was impossible to get to him, there were a lot of such people. Eventually, she got to him. I managed to write down the story of my grandmother a year before her death.

- Nevertheless, Sergei Pavlovich still ended up in Kolyma?

- After the grandmother got to the chairman of the Supreme Court, he wrote: "Comrade Ulrich, I ask you to check the correctness of the conviction." It was March 31, 1939, at that time Sergei Pavlovich was still in the Novocherkassk prison, he had not yet been at the stage. Then the grandmother found Grizodubova, she also wrote a note to Ulrich. Ultimately, the sentence was overturned, and instructions were given to the head of the Novocherkassk prison to return Korolev back to Moscow. But at that time he was already mining gold in the Kolyma. The papers arrived too late. My grandmother told me that when she came to the office of the chairman of the Supreme Court for an answer, the secretary gave her a postcard that said that she had been refused. But it turned out that this postcard was not Balanina (this is the name of my grandmother by her second husband), but Balakina. The grandmother believed that her son was dead. But then she was called, it turned out that the secretary mixed up the postcards. As a result, the father was summoned from Kolyma to review the case. I was also in the archives of the NKVD and studied the personal file in 1989. In the book, I provide all the necessary documents, so my book about my father is a documentary, in 2011 I received an award from the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences for it as the best book on astronautics.

- How did the family live while Sergei Pavlovich was in the camps?

My mother worked three jobs. Everyone knew that her husband had been arrested, people were crossing the street, even doctors refused to assist her in operations, because she was the wife of an enemy of the people. Mom turned gray during this time. She was very beautiful, she was only 30 years old, she had a young face, but she was completely gray-haired. We had no money, but it's good that the nanny still stayed with us. Mom said that we had nothing to pay her with, but she said that she would live with us for free. Mom was on duty 15 nights a month to earn money for us and to send more money to my father: this was possible while he was in Butyrka prison, and she transferred 25 rubles twice. Of course, if it were not for Gromov and Grizodubova, my father would not have been summoned to reconsider the case, because practically no one from Kolyma was summoned. And of course, if not for the persistence of my grandmother, who wrote letters and telegrams to Stalin, Yezhov and other people. If not for her, he would have died in Kolyma.

Sergei Korolev in Butyrskaya prison, 1938

- Sergei Pavlovich was sent to corrective labor at the Maldyak gold mine. Decades later, when you were collecting material about your father, you also happened to be there. Please tell us about this trip.

“I have been to all the places where my father lived and worked, including this mine. This was in 1991. Then we still had Soviet power, I called the Magadan Regional Party Committee, because I needed a car and an escort. They gave me the historian Reizman, who was engaged in the history of this region and knew it very well. In the second car, we were accompanied by a film crew from Magadan television. They made a documentary about this trip and wanted to broadcast it on central television. But just on the day when I returned from Kolyma, on August 21, the State Emergency Committee happened, so the central television was not up to it and the film was not aired. I drove along this Kolyma highway, along which prisoners were transported, met with a doctor who worked in the camp when my father was there. Of course, she did not remember any Korolev, but she told me a lot and interestingly. True, she asked not to record the conversation, although, of course, I still turned on the recorder. She said: “You don’t write it down, I gave a subscription.” Can you imagine? It was already 1991, and she worked there in 1939. They showed me the place where the tents of the prisoners stood, there were only a few barracks left, in which the camp authorities lived.

It must have been a very powerful moment emotionally. Do you remember the feelings you experienced when you saw this place for the first time?

- Of course, this is a depressing impression. The prisoners lived in canvas tents. And since winter comes very early there and it can be very cold, these tents were heated by a potbelly stove, which stood in the middle of the tent measuring 7 by 21 meters. There were 50-60 prisoners there. In winter, outside the tents were covered with snow to keep at least a little warmth.

- It is known that after the Kolyma Academician Korolev often said that he did not like gold ...

Yes, he said: "I mined gold in Kolyma." And he really did not like gold and aluminum, because the dishes in the camp were aluminum. He brought an aluminum mug from Kolyma, which he used in the camp; it is in my home museum. The surname "Korolyov" is scratched on her pen with a nail.

- In the camp, Sergei Pavlovich almost died. How did you manage to survive in such inhuman conditions?

- My father fell ill with scurvy, and when he was almost dying, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Usachev appeared in the camp. He was the director of the plant where the plane was built, on which Chkalov crashed. Of course, in December 1938 he was immediately arrested and exiled to Kolyma. Usachev was a master of sports in boxing. When he appeared in the camp, using his strength, he called the headman and demanded: "Show me your farm." They entered the tent, and the headman said to him: "And here lies the King, one of yours, but he will not get up." Usachev came up and saw under a pile of rags my father, whom he knew. My father was covered with scabs, all his teeth fell out, he could not walk. And then, in the appropriate language, Usachev spoke with this headman, demanded that the criminals give additional rations, and Korolev was transferred to the medical unit. Nurses brought raw potatoes and carrots there and rubbed them on the gums of patients with scurvy, brewed a decoction of cones, there was nothing else. Ultimately, my father recovered.

- When the documents on the review of the case nevertheless reached the addressee, your father was sent to Moscow. But on the way Sergei Pavlovich almost died. The ship on which he was supposed to sail sank. And Korolev himself survived only by a lucky chance. The language does not dare to call such a combination of circumstances luck. But still, you can say that your father was born in a shirt.

“Destiny still took care of him. When he returned from the Maldyak mine, he did not get on the Indigirka steamer. He arrived, but the stage was already formed, "Indigirka" was leaving on December 8, 1939. He was already in Magadan and asked very much to be taken on board. But he was told that there were no more places. More than a thousand people were traveling there: civilians and more than 700 prisoners. The prisoners were in the hold. During a storm in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the ship hit the reefs. That is, the ship did not sink, it received a hole, and all the civilians remained alive. They landed on the shallows, and then the next day the Japanese rescued them. And when the sailors rushed to open the hold, the head of the convoy forbade them, and every single prisoner perished. When the Japanese came to rescue, they saw a terrible picture: people simply froze in this hold.

“It’s amazing: people who worked for the good of their homeland, went through the camps and who somehow managed to survive in these camps, having gained freedom, still continued to work for the state, which subjected them to these terrible repressions. Do you have an explanation for this?

Yes, none of them got angry. I talked to many people. Both my father and everyone thought there had been a mistake. He then personally met with Stalin twice, after the war, when he was appointed chief designer of product number one - these are long-range ballistic missiles BRDD. He was struck by the competence with which Stalin asked him questions. This was in 1947. When Stalin died in 1953, my father was shocked by his death. In his letter, he wrote: "Our comrade Stalin has died." He was sure that Stalin had nothing to do with it. Maybe then he changed his mind, I don't know. But we all experienced the death of Stalin: both my mother and I, at that time still a first-year student. Whole country. Everyone was crying. All these repressed people believed that someone had informed them that Stalin was not to blame. Now it is difficult to judge this.

Valentina Tereshkova before space flight and Sergei Korolev, 1963

Let's get back to the topic of space. Sergei Pavlovich supervised the preparation of the flights of the first Soviet cosmonauts. Among them was Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to travel in space.

Tereshkova risked her life. No matter how many more flights of women, she was the first. And she alone flew in this ship. All the rest flew at the station, where there were still astronauts, and she was alone, so her flight was unique. All the flights that were under my father, all 11 astronauts who flew, were different from each other. Each flight was different from the previous one: my father was always looking for something new. The flight of German Titov lasted 25 hours, he made not one revolution, but many revolutions around the Earth, and for the first time conducted video filming. Then Nikolaev and Popovich flew - it was a flight of two ships in parallel. Then Bykovsky and Tereshkova flew - these were also two ships and the first woman in space. Then Komarov, Egorov and Feoktistov - they flew without spacesuits in the same ship, it was also new. And then Belyaev and Leonov flew, who made the first spacewalk.

- Your father was nominated for the Nobel Prize, but never received it. Did it piss him off?

He was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize. But the fact is that when the Nobel Committee turned to our government, Khrushchev said that in our country the whole people is the creator of new technology - we will not give the award to anyone separately. His father, of course, was very offended by him, as Khrushchev's son recalls, because it was a lot of money. Of course, from this money he would not take a single penny for himself. He didn’t need anything, he was so unmercenary, he always went to the cosmodrome in the same “happy suit”, the same coat. He didn’t need anything for himself personally, but this money could go to the development of astronautics. Unfortunately, the Nobel Prize was never awarded, and according to Nobel's will, it is not given posthumously. That's why it happened.

More than half a century has passed since the first manned flight into space, rocket launches have become a daily routine. But when you personally look at how a rocket takes off from the Earth, how does it respond to you?

- I have been to the Baikonur Cosmodrome many times, and the last time I was several years ago, I watched the night launch of the ship. Flying up to Baikonur, I am always amazed at what was built in this desert. This is, of course, incredible. Those military builders who built it accomplished a feat. Because it is generally difficult to imagine that already in 1947 missile launches began in Kapustin Yar - two years after the end of such a bloody, such a difficult war! And how many enterprises worked for space! It was necessary to organize everything, for this it was necessary to have a huge organizational talent, which my father possessed. He managed to rally the team of chief designers and the teams of many enterprises that worked for space. The launch of rockets is fascinating: I saw both daytime launches and night ones. It is very beautiful when a white rocket rises into the sky. Of course, my heart is filled with pride, because ultimately the space age of mankind was opened and we are witnesses of the opening of this era. And it was opened by Sergei Pavlovich and his associates.

Interviewed by Anna Khrustaleva

This material discusses short biography of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev- an outstanding designer of the rocket and space industry. Under the influence Sergey Koroleva there was a technological breakthrough of all mankind. Under his leadership, the first artificial satellite entered the Earth's orbit, the first manned flight into space took place, the first man went into outer space.

Childhood and youth of the great designer.

Student years

Korolev's interest in jet propulsion and career

Arrest and serving a sentence

Development of missile weapons.

Space exploration led by chief designer Sergei Korolyov

Death of a great designer

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Born December 30, 1906 (January 12, 1907) in Zhitomir - died January 14, 1966 in Moscow. Soviet scientist, designer, chief organizer of the production of rocket and space technology and rocket weapons of the USSR, founder of practical astronautics.

Father - Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev (1877-1929), teacher of Russian literature, originally from Mogilev.

Mother - Maria Nikolaevna Moskalenko (after her second husband - Balanina) (1888-1980), daughter of a merchant from Nizhyn.

When Sergei Pavlovich was 3 years old, his mother left the family. He was sent to Nizhyn 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 a gymnasium in Odessa, where his mother, Maria Nikolaevna Balanina, and stepfather, Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin, moved.

He did not study at the gymnasium for long - it was closed. Then there were four months of a unified labor school. Then he was educated at home - his mother and stepfather were teachers, and his stepfather, in addition to teaching, had an engineering education.

Even in his school years, Sergei was interested in the then new aviation technology, and showed exceptional abilities for it.

In 1922-1924 he studied at a construction vocational school, studying in many circles and at various courses.

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

Having entered the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 1924 with a degree in aviation technology, Korolev mastered general engineering disciplines in it in two years and became a glider athlete.

In the autumn of 1926, he 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. On November 2, 1929, on the Firebird glider designed by M.K. Tikhonravov, Korolev passed the exams for the title of "soaring pilot", and in December of the same year, under the guidance of Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev, he defended his thesis - the project of the SK-4 aircraft.

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 outstanding abilities as an aircraft designer. So, the glider SK-3 "Red Star" for the first time in the USSR was specially designed to perform aerobatics and, in particular, a dead loop, which was successfully demonstrated by the pilot V. A. Stepanchonk during the VII All-Union glider rally in Koktebel on October 28 1930 However, especially after meeting with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Korolev was fascinated by thoughts about flights into the stratosphere and the principles of jet propulsion.

In September 1931, S.P. Korolev and a talented enthusiast in the field of rocket engines F.A. Zander achieved the creation in Moscow with the help of Osoaviakhim of a public organization - the Jet Propulsion Study Group (GIRD). In April 1932, it became essentially a state research and design laboratory for the development of rocket aircraft, in which the first Soviet liquid ballistic missiles (BR) GIRD-09 and GIRD-10 were created and launched.

In 1933, on the basis of the Moscow GIRD and the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL), the Jet Research Institute was established under the leadership of I. T. Kleimenov. Korolev was appointed his deputy with the rank of divinzhener.

In 1935, he became head of the rocket aircraft department.

In 1936, he managed to bring to the test cruise missiles: anti-aircraft - 217 with a powder rocket engine and long-range - 212 with a liquid rocket engine.

By 1938, his department had developed projects for long-range liquid cruise and ballistic missiles, aircraft missiles for firing at air and ground targets, and solid-fuel anti-aircraft missiles. However, differences in views on the prospects for the development of rocket technology forced Korolev to leave the post of deputy director, and he was appointed to the ordinary position of senior engineer.

Arrest and imprisonment of Sergei Korolev

Sergei Korolev was arrested on June 27, 1938 on charges of sabotage, after the arrest of Ivan Terentyevich Kleimenov and other workers of the Reactive Institute. According to some reports, he was tortured - both jaws were broken. The author of this version is the journalist Y. Golovanov. In his book, he emphasizes that this is only a version: "In February 1988, I talked with S. N. Efuni, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Sergei Naumovich told me about the 1966 operation of the year, during which Sergei Pavlovich died. Efuni himself took part in it only at a certain stage, but, being at that time the leading anesthetist of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health, he knew all the details of this tragic event.

- Anesthesiologist Yuri Ilyich Savinov faced an unforeseen circumstance, - said Sergey Naumovich. - In order to give anesthesia, it was necessary to insert a tube, and Korolev could not open his mouth wide. He had two broken jaws... - Did Sergei Pavlovich have a broken jaw? I asked Korolev's wife, Nina Ivanovna.

"He never mentioned it," she replied thoughtfully. - He really could not 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 bullying." But I cannot prove that Nikolai Mikhailovich Shestakov broke the jaws of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Unfortunately, no one can prove this. You can't even prove that you hit. That just pushed. I repeat again: I cannot prove anything, there are no such proofs 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. In the list, he went to the first (execution) category. The list was endorsed by Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov and Kaganovich.

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 labor camp (Sevzheldorlag), released in 1944. According to his statement to the Military Prosecutor’s Office dated May 30, 1955, he was rehabilitated “for lack of corpus delicti” on April 18, 1957.

Sergei Korolev went through Butyrka in Moscow, a transit prison in Novocherkassk.

On April 21, 1939, he ended up in Kolyma, where he was at the Maldyak gold mine of the Western Mining Directorate and was employed in the so-called "general work". December 23, 1939 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 Conference, sentenced to 8 years in prison and sent to the Moscow special prison of the NKVD 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 actively developed projects for a guided air 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 Aviation Plant No. engines of new types for the purpose of their application in aviation. Here, S.P. Korolev, with his characteristic enthusiasm, gives himself up to the idea of ​​​​practical use of rocket engines to improve aviation: reducing the length of the takeoff run of an aircraft 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 of rocket launchers. He was engaged in improving the technical characteristics of the Pe-2 dive bomber, the first flight of which with an active rocket launcher took place in October 1943.

According to the memoirs of L. L. Kerber, S. P. Korolev was a skeptic, a cynic and a pessimist who looked absolutely gloomy at the future, “Slam without an obituary,” was his favorite phrase. Along with this, there is a statement by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov regarding S.P. Korolev: “He was never embittered ... He never complained, did not curse anyone, did not scold. He didn't have time for that. He understood that anger does not cause a creative impulse, but oppression.

In July 1944, S.P. Korolev was released early from prison with the removal of a criminal record but without rehabilitation (minutes of the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 27, 1944) on his personal instructions, after which he worked for another year in Kazan.

The Queen's daughter said: “Papa miraculously survived. I flew to the Maldyak mine in the summer of 1991. It was a small village where two barracks were preserved in which the authorities lived. But the camp doctor Tatyana Dmitrievna Repeva was still alive. She, of course, did not Koroleva remembered the prisoner, but she told how they saved people from scurvy: they brought raw potatoes from home, rubbed the gums of the sick, made decoctions from spruce cones. My father was able to survive. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Usachev, before his arrest, the director of the Moscow Aviation factory. On it they built the plane on which Chkalov crashed. Usachev was a master of sports in boxing, and he decided to restore order in the camp, where the criminals ruled. He called the headman: "Show me your economy!" They went into the tent where my dying father lay.Usachev asked: "Who is this?" - "This is the King, one of yours, but he will not get up!" When Usachev threw back his rags and saw my father, whom he had known before, he realized that something incredible had happened and he needed to be saved. "A second trial took place, which sentenced him to eight years in prison. After the Maldyak mine, my father hated gold all his life.".

On January 12, 2007, a high relief of S.P. Korolev by sculptor M.M. Gasimov was solemnly opened at the building (entrance) of JSC KMPO.

Ballistic missiles by Sergei Korolev

On May 13, 1946, Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1017-419ss “Issues of rocket weapons” appears, S.P. Korolev is not directly mentioned in the text of the Decree, but in accordance with this document he was appointed to a new place of work.

In August 1946, he was appointed Chief Designer of the Special Design Bureau No. 1 (OKB-1), created in Kaliningrad near Moscow, to develop long-range ballistic missiles, and head of department No. 3 of NII-88 for their development. Almost immediately, the Council of Chief Designers appeared.

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

The first task set by the government for S.P. Korolev, as the Chief Designer of OKB-1, and all organizations involved in missile weapons, was to create an analogue of the V-2 rocket from Soviet materials. But already in 1947, a decree was issued on the development of new ballistic missiles with a greater range than the V-2 - up to 3000 km.

In 1948, S.P. Korolev began flight and design tests of the R-1 ballistic missile (analogous to the V-2) and in 1950 successfully put it into service.

During the course of 1954 alone, Korolev simultaneously worked on various modifications of the R-1 rocket (R-1A, R-1B, R-1V, R-1D, R-1E), completed work on the R-5 and outlined five different modifications of it , completed the complex and responsible work on the R-5M missile - with a nuclear warhead. Work was underway on the R-11 and its naval version R-11FM, and the intercontinental R-7 was acquiring more and more clear features.

In 1956, under the leadership of S.P. Korolev, a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 was created with a detachable warhead weighing 3 tons and a flight range of 8 thousand km. The rocket was successfully tested in 1957 at test site No. 5 built for this purpose in Kazakhstan (the current Baikonur cosmodrome).

For the combat duty of these missiles in 1958-1959, a combat launch station (the Angara object) was built near the village of Plesetsk (Arkhangelsk region, the current Plesetsk cosmodrome). A modification of the R-7A missile with a range increased to 11,000 km was in service with the USSR Strategic Missile Forces from 1960 to 1968.

In 1957, Sergei Pavlovich created the first ballistic missiles on stable fuel components (mobile land and sea based) - he became a pioneer in these new and important areas of development of missile weapons.

The first artificial satellite of the Earth by Sergei Korolev

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 (AES) into space using the R-7 rocket ). The government supported this initiative. In August 1956, OKB-1 left the NII-88 and became an independent organization, the chief designer and director of which was S.P. Korolev.

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

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

“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 boldest dream of mankind”, - S.P. Korolev said later.

In parallel with the preparation for manned flights, work is underway on satellites for scientific, economic and defense purposes. In 1958, the geophysical Sputnik-3 was developed and launched into space, and then the Elektron paired satellites to study the Earth's radiation belts.

In 1959, three automatic stations to the Moon were created and launched: "Luna-1" flew near the Moon, "Luna-2" for the first time in the world made a flight from the Earth to another cosmic body, "symbolically" delivering a pennant of the Soviet Union to the Moon (from the impact on the surface of the satellite with a pennant instantly turned into gas), "Luna-3" for the first time photographed the far (invisible from the Earth) side of the Moon.

In the future, S.P. Korolev began to develop a more advanced lunar apparatus for soft landing on the surface of the Moon, photographing and transmitting a lunar panorama to Earth (the so-called E-6 object).

Launch of the first man into space

April 12, 1961 S.P. Korolev again strikes the world community. Having created the first manned spacecraft "Vostok-1", he implements the world's first manned flight into space - a citizen of the USSR in near-Earth orbit. Sergei Pavlovich is in no hurry to solve the problem of human space exploration. The first spacecraft made only one orbit: no one knew how a person would feel during such a long weightlessness, what psychological stresses would affect him during an unusual and unexplored space journey.

For the preparation of the first manned flight into space, S.P. Korolev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the second time (the decree was not published).

Following the first flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, on August 6, 1961, German Stepanovich Titov made the second space flight on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, which lasted one day. Again - a rigorous analysis of the influence of flight conditions on the functioning of the body. Then the joint flight of the spacecraft "Vostok-3" and "Vostok-4", 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 next year - the joint flight of cosmonauts V.F. Bykovsky and V.V. Tereshkova on the spacecraft "Vostok-5" and "Vostok-6" from June 14 to 16, 1963 - the possibility of a woman's flight into space is being studied. After the flight, S. Korolev told his wife that there was no place for women in space.

From October 12 to 13, 1964, the more complex Voskhod spacecraft in space had a crew of three people of various specialties: the ship's commander, a flight engineer, and a doctor.

The world's first spacewalk took place on March 18, 1965, during the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft with a crew of two. Cosmonaut A. A. Leonov in a spacesuit went out through the airlock and was outside the spacecraft for about 20 minutes.

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

Also in the mid-1950s Korolev hatched the idea of ​​launching a man to the moon. The corresponding space program was developed with the support of . However, this program was never implemented during the life of Sergei Pavlovich 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 - did not attach as much importance to the lunar program as Khrushchev did. After the death of Sergei Pavlovich, the program for launching astronauts to the moon was gradually curtailed. The Soviet program for the exploration of the moon was subsequently carried out with the help of unmanned spacecraft.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (documentary)

Illness and death of Sergei Korolev

Korolev had polyps in the rectum, which it was decided to remove surgically. The operation seemed easy to the doctors.

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. We decided to open the abdominal cavity. When they began to approach the place of bleeding, they found 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. It was necessary to withdraw the rest 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 while eating), difficulties arose during intubation trachea. He was not able to correctly insert the breathing tube into the trachea.

Medical report on the illness and cause of death of Comrade Sergei Pavlovich Korolev: "Comrade S.P. Korolev was ill with rectal sarcoma. In addition, he had: atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis, sclerosis of the cerebral arteries, pulmonary emphysema and metabolic disorders. S.P. Korolev underwent an operation to remove the tumor with extirpation of the rectum and part Comrade S. P. Korolev died from heart failure (acute myocardial ischemia)", - it was said in the conclusion, which was signed by: Minister of Health of the USSR, full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor B. V. Petrovsky; full member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, 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 AI Strukov; Head of the Fourth Main Directorate under the Ministry of Health of the USSR, Honored Scientist, Professor A. M. Markov.

Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky told Y. Golovanov: “The biopsy really showed a polyp in the rectum, and I scheduled an operation to save Sergei Pavlovich from this polyp. Previously, an attempt was made under anesthesia with the help of an endoscope to take the tissue again for analysis, but severe bleeding began and the need for surgery became apparent."

Petrovsky says the same thing in his book: “Laparotomy (opening the abdominal cavity) showed the presence of an immobile malignant tumor growing into the rectum and pelvic wall. With great difficulty, the electric knife was able to isolate the tumor and take a biopsy, which confirmed the presence of the most malignant tumor - angiosarcoma."

In 1973, the Washington Post newspaper published an article by a doctor who emigrated from the USSR, who claimed that there was no sarcoma, there was a polyp and Korolev died as a result of a medical error. The same version was supported by the famous surgeon Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences F.G. corners.

The coffin with the body of the late S.P. Korolev was installed in the Hall of Columns. To say goodbye to the deceased, access was opened on January 17, 1966 from 12 noon to 8 pm. The funeral with state honors took place on the Red Square of Moscow on January 18 at 13:00.

The urn with the ashes of S.P. Korolev was buried in the Kremlin wall.

Personal life of Sergei Korolev:

Was married twice.

First wife - Ksenia Maximilianovna Vincentini (1907-1991), surgeon. Married in 1935, the daughter Natalia Sergeevna, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, laureate of the State Prize, was born.

"My mother's grandfather was an Italian, his name was Maximilian. At the age of 25, he came to Bessarabia, converted to Orthodoxy, and after baptism became Nicholas. I know about my great-grandfather that he was the director of the Chisinau School of Viticulture and Winemaking for fifteen years and received a title of nobility. His son he called Maximilian. My mother is Vincentini Ksenia Maximilianovna. She did not change this surname and wore it all her life ...

When my father was arrested, I was only three years old. Mom, of course, said that she would petition for her husband, but the family council decided that she had no right to do this, because she had a small child, and her father's mother, Maria Nikolaevna, would intercede. The mothers were not touched. And my grandmother rushed to save her only son. She wrote letters, telegrams to Stalin, Yezhov, then Beria," said the daughter of Sergei Korolev.

The second wife is Nina Ivanovna (10/20/1920 - 4/25/1999).

“She invaded our family, knowing that Sergei Pavlovich has a wife and a child. So I am his only daughter. But we must pay tribute: Nina Ivanovna devoted her whole life to him,” said daughter Koroleva.

Sergei Korolev with his second wife Nina Ivanovna(in the role of the Queen -).

documentaries:

Empire Queen;
2004 - Sergey Korolev. Fate - creative workshop "Studio A", "Channel One";
2006 - The release of the designer - the television company "Civilization", the cycle "Empire of the Queen". Movie 1st. TV channel Culture;
2006 - Trophy space - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire of the Queen". Film 2nd. TV channel Culture;
2006 - Inaccessible Moon - TV company "Civilization", cycle "Empire of the Queen". Movie 3rd. TV channel Culture;
2006 - Tsar Rocket. Interrupted flight - Roscosmos TV studio, TV Center;
2006 - The world consists of stars and people - Culture TV channel;
2007 - First on Mars. Unsung song by Sergei Korolev - Roscosmos television studio;
2007 - Sergey Korolev. Knocking on the sky - television studio Prospekt TV, Channel One;
2007 - Sergiy Korolev - NTU, 2007, (in Russian-Ukrainian);
2009 - Five deaths of academician Korolev - Studio "07 Production", TV channel "Inter" (in Russian-Ukrainian);
2010 - Korolev. Countdown - NTV channel;
2011 - Sergey Korolev. Life at space speed - Roscosmos TV studio, Russian Space program, Russia-2 TV channel.