1907–1966
Serhii Korolov
Chief Designer of the space age
Zhytomyr-born rocket and spacecraft designer. Under his leadership the first Earth satellite and the first human were launched into space - even though the Soviet regime had sent him to a labor camp in Kolyma.
Key accomplishments
- Led the development of the R-7, the first intercontinental ballistic missile
- Launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (4 October 1957)
- First human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin (12 April 1961)
Who he was
Serhii Korolov was born in Zhytomyr and spent his childhood in Nizhyn, Kyiv and Odesa. He began his studies at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School. As a young man he became passionate about aviation and rockets: in 1933 his group launched one of the first Soviet liquid-fuel rockets.
His story
In 1938 Korolov was arrested without grounds during Stalin’s terror. He was sentenced to 10 years. He went through interrogations and a labor camp in Kolyma, from which he returned severely exhausted, and then worked in a prison design bureau. After his release in 1944 he became chief designer of long-range ballistic missiles, and later headed the leading rocket and space center.
Under his leadership the R-7 rocket was built. It put into orbit the first artificial Earth satellite (1957) and the Vostok spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin (1961), the first human in space. During his lifetime his name was a state secret; the world learned about him only after his death.
Why it matters today
Korolov worked for the Soviet state that had thrown him into a labor camp. His story is about the talent of a man born in Ukraine who changed human history, and at the same time about how a totalitarian system used and silenced its creators. A museum named after him operates in Zhytomyr.
