Sergey Korolyov and the Soviet ICBM

Hey everyone,

Korolyov was the architect behind the Soviet rocket program and, ultimately, the Soviet space program. However, this fact would not be revealed until after his death. Korolyov was born in 1907 in a small province of the Russian Empire. In 1929, Korolyev received a degree in engineering after producing a practical aircraft design. At first, he worked on aircraft design, but, soon, the group in which he was involved turned to propulsion. By 1933, they had built and launched a liquid fueled rocket, and Korolyev published Rocket Flight in Stratosphere the next year. This work continued until 1938, Korolyev was arrested and sentenced to a work camp. He appealed the decision, and his sentence was reduced from ten years to eight years. However, he would no longer be in a labor camp. So, he was moved to a camp for the educated where he was used as slave labor to work on aircraft. Then, in 1942, he was moved to another camp for intellectuals where he helped to design rocket engines and continued here until 1944. This year, Korolyov was finally released and allowed to rejoin his family. His other comrades from his work in the 1930s had largely been executed by Stalin, so Korolyov was lucky to escape with his life as well as survive World War II.

After the war, V-2 technology was retrieved from Germany, and the Soviets began to make a replica of the rocket. Korolyov served as the chief designer of these missiles. The first rocket was designated the R-1, but it could only hit half of its targets. Another version, the R-2, was created, and it doubled the distance of the R-1. While there would be many more models, the first true Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) would be the R-7 which had a range of 7,000 km and could hit England. It was a two stage rocket which could carry a nuclear war head, and it successfully launched in August, 1957. This rocket that would carry Sputnik into space.