Space Rocket History #90 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 2

Posted on November 26, 2014 by spac9750

Sergei Korolev’s life paralleled in many ways the life of Wernher Von Braun. Like Von Braun, as a young man, Sergei Korolev was inspired to dedicate his life to the technology for space exploration after becoming acquainted with the work of a great space pioneer: Hermann Oberth in the case of von Braun, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the case of Korolev. Both began their careers in space development through serious study, participation in amateur rocket societies, and then support from the military…

Korolev, Kurchatov, Keldysh

Yuri and Sergei

Vostok 1 Lauch

Nov 20

Space Rocket History #89 – The Death of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – Part 1

Posted on November 20, 2014 by spac9750

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His power, influence, and responsibilities during the 1950s and 60s were all encompassing. Not only was he in charge of all space-related issues, he was also in charge of some of the design of rockets for military purposes as well. He oversaw the design and testing of communications and surveillance satellites, too. Although he delegated responsibility for each program to trusted designers in separate engineering bureaus, his workload was enormous. He was the responsible for all the programs including the Soviet equivalent of NASA, which was called the Ministry for Medium Machine Building.

Sergei as a Child

Korolev in his 20s

Korolev in a Glider

Mar 27

Space Rocket History #56 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 2

Posted on March 27, 2014 by spac9750

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Leonov opened the airlocks outer hatch He was positioned on his “back” and this orientation revealed the beauty of earth in its entirety. His heart began to race as he pushed his upper body outside and saw the deep blue vista of the Mediterranean Sea, fringed by the easily recognizable shapes of Greece and Italy and, farther east, the Crimea, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Volga River…

EVA

EVA

Celebration

Descent Module

Stamp

Mar 20

Space Rocket History #55 – First Space Walk – Voskhod 2 with Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev – Part 1

Posted on March 20, 2014 by spac9750

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Voskhod 2 was a high risk mission. It was the final space race victory for the Soviet Union before NASA claimed the lead and ultimately won with the lunar landing of 1969. Voskhod 2 was the peak of the Soviet Space Program. It nearly killed its two cosmonauts but it was ultimately a success…