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130-507: Soviet research and development of rocket-powered aircraft began with Sergey Korolev 's GIRD-6 project in 1932. His interest in stratospheric flight was also shared by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky who supported this early work. After a long series of unmanned tests of vehicles, Korolev's RP-318-1 rocket aircraft flew on 28 Feb 1940. That Spring, TsAGI ( ЦАГИ – Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т – Tsentralniy Aerogidrodinamicheskiy Institut Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute) hosted

260-693: A Kolyma labour camp. Following his release he became a recognized rocket designer and the key figure in the development of the Soviet Intercontinental ballistic missile program. He later directed the Soviet space program and was made a Member of Soviet Academy of Sciences , overseeing the early successes of the Sputnik and Vostok projects including the first human Earth orbit mission by Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961. Korolev's unexpected death in 1966 interrupted implementation of his plans for

390-478: A Russian soldier and a Ukrainian mother. His mother, Maria Nikolaevna Koroleva (Moskalenko/Bulanina), was a daughter of a wealthy merchant from the city of Nizhyn , with Ukrainian , Greek and Polish heritage. His father moved to Zhytomyr to be a teacher of the Russian language. Three years after Sergei's birth the couple separated due to financial difficulties. Although Pavel later wrote to Maria requesting

520-411: A spacewalk . Although Korolev trained as an aircraft designer , his greatest strengths proved to be in design integration, organization and strategic planning. Arrested on a false official charge as a "member of an anti-Soviet counter-revolutionary organization" (which would later be reduced to "saboteur of military technology"), he was imprisoned in 1938 for almost six years, including a few months in

650-619: A "Council of Chief Designers", which assisted in circumnavigating the bureaucratic hierarchy of the Soviet missile industry. This group eventually assumed engineering control over the early Soviet space program . Korolev returned from Germany in February 1947 and took up his duties as chief designer and Head of Department No 3 of NII-88, initially tasked with reproduction of the V-2. The Soviets were only able to obtain parts to assemble approximately

780-411: A 45-degree dive and crashed into the ground, killing Bakhchivandzhi. The accident put a halt to flight tests, and a lengthy investigation began. Eventually, after wind tunnel testing, it was determined that BI-1 lost control due to transonic effects on the pitch controls / stabilisers. Estimates of Bakhchivandzhi's final velocity range from 800 to 900 km/h (430 to 490 kn; 500 to 560 mph), but

910-554: A Soviet crewed Moon landing before the United States 1969 mission. Before his death he was officially identified only as Glavny Konstruktor ( Главный Конструктор ), or the Chief Designer , to protect him from possible Cold War assassination attempts by the United States. Even some of the cosmonauts who worked with him were unaware of his last name; he only went by Chief Designer. Only following his death in 1966

1040-558: A classmate, Xenia Vincentini, who would later become his first wife. In 1925 he was accepted into a limited class on glider construction, and suffered two broken ribs flying the training glider they built. He continued courses at Kiev until he was accepted into the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MVTU, BMSTU) in July 1926, having the famous aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev as his mentor, who

1170-548: A conference for aircraft chief designers on the subject of ramjet and rocket propulsion. On 12 July the Council of People's Commissars called for the development of a high-speed stratospheric aircraft. Aircraft designer and head of OKB-293, Viktor Fedorovich Bolkhovitinov attended the TsAGI conference along with two of his top engineers, A. Ya. Bereznyak and A. M. Isaev . The young Bereznyak had made an impression in 1938 with

1300-407: A conical head with 60 centrifugal injectors, the cylindrical chamber, and the nozzle – joined with bolts and copper gaskets. It was ignited with a nichrome glow plug, later replaced with silicon-carbide and was cooled regeneratively by both propellants, the chamber walls by a spiral flow of incoming fuel (kerosene) and the nozzle section by the flow of oxidizer (Nitric Acid). On 21 June Isaev proposed

1430-491: A decree on 13 May 1946, and a new institute called Scientific Research Institute No. 88 ( NII-88 ) was created for that purpose, in the suburbs of Moscow. Development of ballistic missiles was placed under the military control of Dmitriy Ustinov through the decree signed by Stalin, and Ustinov appointed Korolev as chief designer of long-range missiles at Department No. 3 of NII-88. During this period Korolev demonstrated his organisation and management capabilities by organising

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1560-412: A detailed report "On Rocket Aircraft and Further Prospects". He emphasized the need to study the dangerous regime of " shock stall ", and to safely transition through transonic speed and beyond. He proposed the goal of a new rocket aircraft capable of 2,000 km/h (1,100 kn; 1,200 mph). The next year, Bolkhovitinov had five more aircraft produced, BI-5 through BI-9. In the spring of 1944, BI-6

1690-501: A dozen V-2 rockets, so the decision was made to replicate a Soviet version, which was designated the R-1 . Initially Korolev opposed this decision as he thought it was a waste of time and they should move immediately to manufacture a more advanced version, which had been designated the R-2 . However Korolev was overruled and was ordered to assemble what V-2s they had for flight testing, then create

1820-698: A first successful flight by 1953. The world's first true intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was the R-7 Semyorka . This was a two-stage rocket with a maximum payload of 5.4 tons, sufficient to carry the Soviets' bulky nuclear bomb an impressive distance of 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi). During the summer of 1957, the first three launches of the R-7 all failed, severely demoralizing Korolev and his colleagues. The failures also jeopardized his position and dream of using an R-7 to launch an artificial satellite in

1950-623: A glider capable of performing aerobatics. In 1930 he became interested in the possibilities of liquid-fueled rocket engines to propel airplanes, while working at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) as a lead engineer on the Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber. Korolev earned his pilot's license in 1930 and explored the operational limits of the aircraft he piloted, wondering what was beyond his plane's altitude limit and how he could get there. Many believe this

2080-452: A gold mine before word reached him of his retrial. Work camp conditions of inadequate food, shelter, and clothing killed thousands of prisoners each month. Korolev sustained injuries, including possibly a heart attack and lost most of his teeth from scurvy before being returned to Moscow in late 1939. When he reached Moscow, Korolev's sentence was reduced to eight years. However, due to the intervention by his old mentor, Andrei Tupolev , he

2210-461: A high-speed airplane design that some thought could break the world speed record. Bereznyak and Isaev were excited by the idea of designing a rocket-powered aircraft, and their "patron" Bolkhovitinov approved. By the autumn of 1940, they were able to show fellow engineer Boris Chertok a preliminary design of "Project G". The design, made up mostly from plywood and duralumin had a take-off weight of 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), and they planned to use

2340-474: A higher orbit than the Vostok, eliminating the possibility of a natural decay of the orbit and reentry in case of primary retrorocket failure. After one uncrewed test flight, this spacecraft carried a crew of three cosmonauts , Komarov, Yegorov and Feoktistov, into space on 12 October 1964 and completed sixteen orbits. This craft was designed to perform a soft landing, eliminating a need for the ejection system; but

2470-400: A legend and Challenge to Apollo says that the evidence that Khrushchev would have ordered these missions does not survive scrutiny. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov described the authority Korolev commanded at this time. Long before we met him, one man dominated much of our conversation in the early days of our training; Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the mastermind behind the Soviet space program. He

2600-912: A local cossack . Korolev's mother also had a sister Anna and two brothers Yuri and Vasily. Maria Koroleva was frequently away attending Women's higher education courses in Kiev, so Sergei was often by himself and grew up a lonely child with few friends. In 1914 World War 1 commenced with social unrest in the Kiev area. No one had time for the seven year old Korolev during this period and he was noted as being stubborn, persistent, and argumentative. Korolev began reading at an early age from his grandfather's newspapers, and his pre-school teacher noted he had an excellent memory with abilities in mathematics, reading and writing. His mother divorced Pavel in 1915 and in 1916 married Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin, an electrical engineer who had been educated in Germany but who had to attend

2730-517: A meeting with his son, Sergei was told by his mother that his father had allegedly died. Sergei never saw his father after the family break-up, and Pavel died in 1929 before his son learned the truth. Korolev grew up in Nizhyn, under the care of his maternal grandparents Nikolay Yakovlevich Moskalenko who was a trader of the Second Guild and Maria Matveevna Moskalenko (née Fursa), a daughter of

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2860-596: A month later, in time for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution on 3 November. Korolev and close associate Mstislav Keldysh wished to up the ante of building a second, larger satellite by proposing the idea of putting a dog on board, which sufficiently caught the interest of the Soviet Academy of Sciences . This new Sputnik 2 spacecraft had six times the mass of the Sputnik 1, and carried

2990-576: A more reliable electric arc starter instead of a glow plug. Isayev also improved the regenerative cooling, increasing the flow rate around the nozzle. BI-7 was flown twice with the RD-1 engine, on January 24 and March 9, 1945. Pallo reports there was an emergency with the landing gear during the January flight. In addition to the new engine, various changes were made to the aircraft's design: a larger rudder, smaller false keel, and different wing fillets. During

3120-480: A new design using compressed air instead of a pump to force propellant to the engine. The next day, Operation Barbarossa brought the Soviet Union into World War II, and the rocket-powered interceptor suddenly became important. Bereznyak and Isaev began a new more detailed design, which they finished in three weeks. On 9 July Bolkhovitinov and his project-G team met with Andrey Kostikov the head of RNII. Dushkin

3250-481: A revised plan calling for a simpler payload of approximately 100 kilograms. It was approved on 25 January 1957 as ' Object PS '. Despite having achieved one successful flight of the R-7 rocket, Korolev still faced opposition from some officials to his plan of launching a satellite. In August 1957, he proposed letting the Central Committee make the call. Because no one wanted to risk losing the prestige to

3380-585: A total length of 1726 mm. The first prototype was ready for trials on May 28, 1932. The testing process was fairly drawn out, but the 12.7 mm ShVAK was nominally adopted into service in 1934. Series production officially started in 1935 at the INZ-2 factory in Kovrov , but production soon fell well behind schedule because the ShVAK receiver was fairly complex to manufacture. According to Soviet records, out of

3510-409: A wingspan of 6.5 m (21 ft) and an estimated take-off mass of 1,650 kg (3,640 lb) (dry mass 805 kg (1,775 lb) and had a maximum propellant load of 705 kg (1,554 lb). The D-1-A-1100 engine was capable of throttling between 400 kg and 1,100 kg and with 705 kg (1,554 lb)) of propellant, the engine could burn for almost two minutes. Working around

3640-625: The Bolsheviks assumed unchallenged power in 1920. Local schools were closed and young Korolev had to continue his studies at home, where he suffered from a bout of typhus during the severe food shortages of 1919. Korolev received vocational training in carpentry and academics at the Odessa Building Trades School (Stroyprofshkola No. 1). Enjoyment of a 1913 air show inspired interest in aeronautical engineering . He made an independent study of flight theory, and worked at

3770-616: The Eisenhower administration announced the intention of the United States to launch "small Earth-circling satellites" for the International Geophysical Year . While the US government debated the idea of spending millions of dollars on this concept, Korolev suggested the international prestige of launching a satellite before the United States. On 5 August, he sent another proposal with American newspaper articles about

3900-635: The Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) at Leningrad in 1933 to create the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII), which brought together the best of the Soviet rocket talent, including Korolev, Georgy Langemak , and former GDL engine designer Valentin Glushko . Korolev was appointed deputy head under Ivan Kleymyonov , however in 1934, following a disagreement over the direction of RNII, Korolev

4030-685: The Petlyakov Pe-2 dive bomber. The group was moved several times during the war, the first time to avoid capture by advancing German forces. Korolev was moved in 1942 to the sharashka of Kazan OKB-16 under Glushko. Korolev and Glushko designed the RD-1 ;kHz auxiliary rocket motor tested in an unsuccessful fast-climb Lavochkin La-7R . Korolev was isolated from his family until 27 June 1944 when he—along with Tupolev, Glushko and others—was finally discharged by special government decree, although

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4160-625: The Petlyakov Pe-3 night fighter and on Soviet-modified Hawker Hurricane aircraft. It was also installed on the wings of the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber and some ground attack versions of the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber also had it installed in a fixed mounting. Some early versions of the Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft also carried it, but superseded in that aircraft by the 23 mm Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 . The flexible-mount ShVAK

4290-712: The RD-A-150 for the Korolyov RP-318-1 . Powered by tractor kerosene and red fuming nitric acid , it fell short of the hoped for 13.74 kN (3,090 lbf) thrust and the D-1-A-1100 was expected to reach 10.8 kN (2,400 lbf). The "A" stood for Nitric Acid ("Azotnokislotny" in Russian), versus K for Liquid Oxygen ("Kislorodny" in Russian), a distinction of unusual importance and controversy among Soviet rocket scientists. Dushkin's turbine propellant pump

4420-641: The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Rocket , Sputnik 1 , and was involved in the launching of Laika , Sputnik 3 , the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body, Belka and Strelka , the first human being, Yuri Gagarin , into space, Voskhod 1 , and the first person, Alexei Leonov , to conduct

4550-451: The "302" rocket-aircraft project, meanwhile Bolkovitinov asked Isaev to take over and master the technology of liquid fuel rocket engines. Isaev got permission to visit Valentin Glushko , the leading Soviet expert on rocket engines, who was then working in a special lab for political prisoners . Glushko taught Isaev the complex techniques of chamber-wall heat transfer calculation and engine design, developed by himself and Fridrikh Tsander in

4680-1047: The "State Commission for testing the R-1". No Germans participated in these tests, which launched 9 rockets between September and November 1948. Korolev continued to lobby for the design and construction of the R-2, including meeting with Stalin in April 1947, but faced competition from a proposal from the Germans, called the G-1. Whilst the German proposal was initially supported by Soviet management, Korolev opposed utilising German specialists for personal reasons and basically ignored their suggestions and advice. Due to political and security concerns, German specialists were not allowed knowledge or access to any Soviet missile design and in December 1948 work on

4810-512: The 12.7 mm ShVAK was in response to a Soviet government decree passed on 9 February 1931, directing domestic manufacturers to produce an aircraft machine gun for the 12.7×108mm cartridge that had been introduced a couple of years prior for the DK machine gun . Tula designer S.V. Vladimirov answered the call by producing basically an enlarged version of the ShKAS , with a 1246 mm long barrel and

4940-563: The 12.7 mm version ceased. Similarly to its predecessors, the 20 mm ShVAK was a gas-operated gun, belt-fed by disintegrating link ammunition. Depending on the intended mount, the ShVAKs were marked with "MP" for the tank version (total gun length 2122 mm; weight 44.5 kg), "KP" for the wing-mounted version (1679 mm total length; 40 kg), "TP" for flexible mounts (1726  mm length; 42 kg), and "SP" for synchronized installations. The "bird-cage" feed system in

5070-458: The 20 mm ShVAK was an improved version of the ShKAS. It could hold 11 rounds and had an even smoother operation. As with the ShKAS, the purpose of the feed cage was to gradually delink the rounds, avoiding any belt lurch. The Berthier -type gas regulator had four holes (of 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 6 mm) allowing for different rates of fire to be selected. The most significant design difference from

5200-431: The 410 12.7 mm ShVAKs planned for aircraft in 1935, only 86 were completed; for the tank version, 40 had been planned but only 6 were delivered that same year. A 1952 Western intelligence report indicates that only "a few" ShVAKs were produced in the 12.7 mm caliber. A further problem complicating the adoption of the gun was that the 12.7 mm ShVAK ended up not using the 12.7×108mm rimless cartridge used by

5330-514: The American government about the Soviets' pending ICBM capability. Even before the Sputnik 1 launch, Korolev was interested in getting to the Moon. He came up with the notion to modify the R-7 missile in order to carry a package to the Moon. However, it was not until 1958 that this idea was approved, after Korolev wrote a letter explaining that his current technology would make it possible to get to

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5460-508: The BIs did not carry weapons, and although some reports claim that BI-4 was used for live ammunition tests, the guns were never fired in flight. The BI-4 model was also reportedly to be used as the template for mass production of 30 to 50 BI-VS aircraft by Andrey Moskalev 's factory, with Moskalev augmenting the twin ShVAK cannon with a load of ten thermite bombs. On 27 March, during a low-altitude test flight, BI-1, piloted by Bakhchivandzhi, entered

5590-598: The DK machine gun, but rather—because it was an adaptation of the ShKAS mechanism—it required its own rimmed 12.7 mm cases. Production of the rimmed 12.7 mm ammunition ceased in 1939, when it was decided that the Berezin UB was preferable because it could share ammunition with the DShK. The 20 mm ShVAK was designed sometime between 1935 and 1936 and series production began in 1936. A few months later, production of

5720-470: The Earth. For security reasons, the names of chief individuals in the Soviet space program became a secret. They were allowed to prepare a report detailing the design and construction of Sputnik 1, however, which was published anonymously by Pravda on 9 October. Korolev also began writing other articles under the pseudonym "Professor K. Sergeyev". The Soviet government initially had a low-key response to

5850-421: The G-1 proposal was terminated. The Ministry of Defence decided to dissolve the German team in 1950 and repatriated the German engineers and their families between December 1951 and November 1953. In April 1948 the go ahead for "scientific and experimental work" was approved, which led to the creation of the R-2. The R-2 doubled the range of the V-2, and was the first design to utilize a separable warhead. This

5980-711: The K-5 when he was 17 years old. He briefly trained in gymnastics until his academic work suffered. Korolev hoped to attend the Zhukovsky Academy in Moscow, but he did not meet the academy's standards. He attended the Kiev Polytechnic Institute 's aviation branch in 1924 while living with his uncle Yuri, and earned money for his courses by doing odd jobs. His curriculum included engineering, physics and mathematics classes. He met and became attracted to

6110-653: The Kiev Polytechnic University because German engineering diplomas were not recognized in Russia. Grigory was an excellent step-father, positively influencing Korolev's manners and study habits. After getting a job with the regional railway, Grigory moved the family to Odessa in 1917, where they endured hardships with many other families through the tumultuous years following the Russian Revolution and continuing internecine struggles until

6240-535: The Moon, the vehicle needed to be able to hold more people. Khrushchev ordered Korolev to launch three people on the Voskhod capsule quickly, as the United States was already doing unmanned tests of the 2 person Gemini . Korolev accepted, on the condition that more backing would be given to his N-1 rocket program. One of the difficulties in the design of the Voskhod was the need to land it via parachute. The three-person crew could not bail out and land by parachute. So

6370-423: The Moon. A modified version of the R-7 launch vehicle was used with a new upper stage. The engine for this final stage was the first designed to be fired in outer space. Mechta is the Russian word meaning "dream", and this is the name Korolev called his moon ships. Officially, the Soviet Union called them Lunas . The first three lunar probes launched in 1958 all failed in part because of political pressure forcing

6500-490: The Moon. A radio communication center needed to be built in the Crimea , near Simferopol and near Yevpatoria to control the spacecraft. Many of these projects were not realized in his lifetime, and none of the planetary probes performed a completely successful mission until after his death. Although he had conceived of the idea as early as 1948, Korolev's planning for the piloted mission began in 1958 with design studies for

6630-480: The R-1 using Soviet infrastructure and materials. NII-88 also incorporated 170+ German specialists – including Helmut Gröttrup and Fritz Karl Preikschat  – with approximately half based at Branch 1 of NII-88 on Gorodomlya Island in Lake Seliger some 200 kilometres (120 mi) from Moscow. The Germans provided a variety of support to the Soviet efforts, particularly on assembling

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6760-483: The ShKAS was that the gas cylinder was moved under the barrel in the ShVAK, giving it a more compact assembly. The end of the barrel was threaded, and this thread was used to screw on a blast-reduction tube of a length that depended on the installation requirements: One of the outstanding features of this weapon is the method of solving blast tube difficulties, a troublesome problem in all installations of aircraft cannon in fighter aircraft. The Soviets' simple solution

6890-413: The Soviet Union became the first to successfully recover living creatures back to Earth. The dogs, Belka and Strelka were successfully launched into space on a Vostok spacecraft and they completed eighteen orbits. Following this, the Soviet Union sent a total of six dogs into space, two in pairs, and two paired with a dummy. Unfortunately, not all the missions were successful. After gaining approval from

7020-474: The Soviet leadership, Korolev initiated a modest satellite research project in coordination with Tikhonravov. To intensify his lobbying efforts, Korolev, along with other like-minded engineers, began writing speculative articles for Soviet newspapers on space flight. They were picked up by the press in the United States and the CIA, influencing American authorities to start their own satellite programs. On 29 July 1955,

7150-407: The Soviets another first. This was followed just one month later by an even greater success with Luna 3 . It was launched only two years after Sputnik 1, and on 7 October 1959 was the first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon , which was something the people of Earth had never seen beforehand. The Luna missions were intended to make a successful soft landing on the Moon, but Korolev

7280-531: The US program attached. Three days later, the Soviet leadership approved his plan. On 30 August, Korolev met with members of the Soviet defense and scientific communities. As a result, he was allowed to use the R-7 rocket to launch satellites, and his project also gained support from the Soviet Academy of Sciences . On 30 January 1956, the USSR Council of Ministers officially approved the satellite project in its decree number 149-88ss. The original plan for

7410-458: The USSR through Operation Osoaviakhim . Most of the German experts, Gröttrup being an exception, had not worked directly with Wernher von Braun . Many of the leading German rocket scientists, including Dr. von Braun himself, surrendered to Americans and were transported to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip . Stalin made rocket and missile development a national priority upon signing

7540-557: The USSR. While there, he met Mikhail Tikhonravov , a glider pilot and aerospace engineer who would later work under Korolev's Sputnik group. In May 1932 Korolev was appointed chief of the group; and military interest encouraged funding of group projects. On August 18, 1933, GIRD launched the first hybrid propellant rocket , the GIRD-09 , and on November 25, 1933, the Soviet's first liquid-fueled rocket GIRD-X . Growing military interest in this new technology caused GIRD to be merged with

7670-458: The United States of America, he was nationally recognized by the Soviet Union, although his name was kept secret. However, despite the Soviet R-7 initial success, it experienced later failures as it was not intended to be a practical weapon. On 19 April 1957 Korolev was declared fully " rehabilitated ", as the government acknowledged that his sentence was unjust. Korolev was keenly aware of

7800-575: The United States, Korolev's satellite launch was finally approved. In September, a second successful flight of the R-7 was made, and 6 October was established as the target date for launching PS-1, the first of the Object PS-type satellites. The lead designer of Object PS was Mikhail S. Khomyakov, and its deputy designer was Oleg G. Ivanovskiy. It was constructed in less than a month by the Tikhonravov group, while Korolev personally managed

7930-509: The V-2 and creating the R-1. The first Soviet tests of V-2 rockets took place in October 1947 at Kapustin Yar , with Korolev as management lead for the project. Numerous German engineers also participated in the tests. A total of 11 V-2 rockets were launched, with 5 reaching their designated targets. In September 1948 testing of the R-1 began at Kapustin Yar, where Korolev was a formal member of

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8060-642: The VVS for military trials. The cancelled Yatsenko I-28 was also planned to use the 12.7 mm ShVAK in a synchronized pair, but the few prototypes which flew in the summer of 1939 did so without armament because a synchronizer for their engine had not been developed. The 20 mm ShVAK was installed in the wings, in the nose, or in a synchronized mounting in the following fighters: Polikarpov I-153 P and I-16 , Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 , Yakovlev Yak-1 , Yak-3 , Yak-7 , and Yak-9 , LaGG-3 , Lavochkin La-5 and La-7 ,

8190-475: The Vostok, Konstantin Feoktistov was recruited directly by Korolev to be the principal designer for crewed spaceflight vehicles. On 15 May 1960 an uncrewed prototype performed 64 orbits of Earth, but the reentry maneuver failed. On 28 July 1960, two dogs by the names of Chaika and Lishichka were launched into space, but the mission was unsuccessful when an explosion killed the dogs. However, on 19 August,

8320-445: The aircraft lift off to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) under low thrust. On 15 May at 19:02 (UTC), Bakhchivandzhi made the first real flight of BI-1, reaching an altitude of 840 m (2,760 ft) and a maximum speed of 400 km/h (220 kn; 250 mph). The mass of the aircraft had been reduced to 1,300 kg (2,900 lb) (only 240 kg (530 lb) of nitric acid and 60 kg (130 lb) of kerosene loaded), and

8450-430: The assembly at a hectic pace. The satellite was a simple polished metal sphere no bigger than a beach ball, containing batteries that powered a transmitter using four external communication antennas. Korolev moved the launch date two days early, fearing a last minute launch of its own by the United States. PS-1 was successfully launched into space on 4 October 1957 as Sputnik 1 , becoming the first artificial satellite of

8580-442: The blast and projectile past portions of the plane that would otherwise have been injured. The 1952 Western intelligence report said of the 20 mm ShVAK: "in relation to its power, the gun is very light and extremely compact" and that it "has a range comparable to our M3 cannon , although their short barrel version is 16 pounds lighter". It was however considered "relatively difficult to produce" in American factories, because it

8710-467: The characteristic acid staining, but his glasses saved him from being blinded. To protect the pilot in the future, a 5.5 mm (0.22 in) steel plate was added to the back of the seat. By April 1942, BI-1 was ready for testing at nearby Koltsove airfield. A test commission was formed, with representatives from OKB-293, RNII and the NII VVS (Air Force Scientific Test Institute). On 2 May the pilot let

8840-462: The charges against him were not dropped until 1957. Korolev rarely talked about his experience in the Gulag, and lived under constant fear of being executed for the military secrets he possessed. He was deeply affected by his time in the camp, becoming reserved and cautious as a result. He later learned that Glushko was one of his accusers, and this was likely the cause of the lifelong animosity between

8970-453: The clock, local furniture workers were employed to build the first two prototypes (BI-1 and BI-2). The skin was 2 mm (0.08 in) plywood with a bonded covering of fabric. The ailerons, elevators and rudder were fabric covered, and the flaps were duralumin. In the forward section were 5 compressed air tanks and 2 kerosene tanks. In the aft were 5 compressed air tanks and three nitric acid tanks. Pressurized to 60 bar (6,000 kPa),

9100-452: The country's urgent need for their skills. Korolev obtained a diploma by producing a practical aircraft design by the end of the year. After graduation, Korolev worked with some of the best Soviet designers at the 4th Experimental Section aircraft design bureau OPO-4 headed by Paul Aimé Richard who emigrated to the USSR from France in the 1920s. He did not stand out in this group, but while so employed he also worked independently to design

9230-410: The craft would need much larger parachutes in order to land safely. Early tests with the craft resulted in some failures until use of stronger fabric improved parachute reliability. The resulting Voskhod was a stripped-down vehicle from which any excess weight had been removed; although a backup retrofire engine was added, since the more powerful Voskhod rocket used to launch the craft would send it to

9360-543: The crew was sent into orbit without space suits or a launch abort system. With the Americans planning a spacewalk with their Gemini program , the Soviets decided to trump them again by performing a spacewalk on the second Voskhod launch. After rapidly adding an airlock, the Voskhod 2 was launched on 18 March 1965, and Alexei Leonov performed the world's first spacewalk. The flight very nearly ended in disaster, as Leonov

9490-899: The development of rocket motors for military aircraft. On 8 September 1945, Korolev was brought to Germany along with many other experts to recover the technology of the German V-2 rocket . The Soviets worked with German specialists to understand and replicate the rocket technology, placing a priority on recreating the entire German V-2 rocket . In February 1946 the Institute Nordhausen was formed, with Korolev as Chief Engineer, Glushko as head of Engine assembly and propulsion systems and German Helmut Gröttrup , who previously worked with Wernher von Braun , as General Director. The work continued in East Germany until late 1946, when 2,000+ German scientists and engineers were sent to

9620-419: The dog Laika as a payload. The entire vehicle was designed from scratch within four weeks, with no time for testing or quality checks. It was successfully launched on 3 November and Laika was placed in orbit. There was no mechanism to bring the dog back to Earth; the dog died from heat exhaustion after five hours in space. The instrument-laden Sputnik 3 spacecraft was launched initially on 27 April 1958, but

9750-419: The early 1930s. Isaev's propellant feed system was simple, but it produced an uneven fuel pressure that diminished as compressed air was used up. Bolkovitinov and his engineers wrestled with this problem, designing pressure regulators and even a piston fuel pump driven by compressed air, but none of these improvements were realized. Too damaged by acid to fly safely, BI-1 was retired and the second prototype BI-2

9880-414: The engine exploded during a full system test. The nozzle section was blasted into the lake, and the engine head struck the back of the pilot's seat, knocking Bakhchivandzhi against the instrument panel and injuring him slightly. Pressurized nitric acid from a broken propellant line drenched Pallo. Fortunately, quick thinking mechanics dunked him head-first into a tank of soda solution. His face was yellow from

10010-486: The engine was de-rated to 4.9 kN (1,100 lbf). The pilot shut the rocket engine off after about one minute, when a light indicated it was overheating. On landing, the aircraft descended too rapidly because of insufficient forward speed, breaking the main-landing-gear on touchdown. The pilot was unhurt and reported that, aside from the rough landing, the aircraft handled well. The flight lasted only 3 minutes and 9 seconds. In July, Dushkin recalled Pallo to help work on

10140-506: The experience accumulated by Bolkhovitinov design bureau became invaluable, and the design bureau alumni went on to become prominent figures in soviet rocket and space technology. Two BI engineers became the founders of two design schools: Bereznyak founded OKB-155, which was the USSR's leading design bureau in development of cruise missiles , and Isayev became the founder of OKB-2, which specialized in low and medium thrust liquid-propellant rocket engines for rockets and space vehicles. The BI

10270-430: The factory until the aircraft was finished. The new design was called "BI" for Blizhnii Istrebitel (close-range fighter), but the letters were also understood by everyone to stand for its inventors: Bereznyak and Isaev. The original plan to include four machine guns was replaced by a design with a pair of 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK cannon . The new aircraft was a low-wing monoplane 6.4 m (21 ft) long, with

10400-546: The future Vostok spacecraft . It was to hold a single passenger in a space suit , and be fully automated. The space suit, unlike the United States' pure oxygen system, was 80 percent nitrogen and only 20 percent oxygen. The capsule had an escape mechanism for problems prior to launch, and a soft-landing and ejection system during the recovery. The spacecraft was spherical, just like the Sputnik design, and Korolev explained his reasoning for this by saying "the spherical shape would be more stable dynamically". Beginning with work on

10530-533: The future. The fourth test, completed on 21 August 1957, was finally able to deliver a dummy payload to the Kamchatka Peninsula . The Soviet news agency TASS made a brief announcement about the ICBM's success, but it was largely ignored or dismissed by members of the American public and media. Because of Korolev's success with the R-7 and because the Soviet Union had successfully created the ICBM before

10660-453: The government, a modified version of Korolev's R-7 was used to launch Yuri Alexeevich Gagarin into orbit on 12 April 1961, which was before the United States was able to put Alan Shepard into space. Korolev served as capsule coordinator, and was able to speak to Gagarin who was inside the capsule. The first human in space and Earth orbit returned to Earth via a parachute after ejecting at an altitude of 7 kilometres (23,000 ft). Gagarin

10790-501: The head of RNII after its leadership was arrested. Korolev was sent to prison, where he wrote many appeals to the authorities, including Stalin himself. Following the fall of NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov , the new chief Lavrenti Beria chose to retry Korolev on reduced charges in 1939; but by that time Korolev was on his way from prison to a Gulag forced labour camp in Kolyma in the far east of Siberia, where he spent several months in

10920-516: The launches to be rushed with an inadequate budget to test and develop the hardware properly before they were ready to fly. Korolev thought political infighting in Moscow was responsible for the lack of sufficient funding for the program, although the US space program at this early phase also had a scarcely enviable launch record. Once, when pressured to beat the US to a working lunar probe, Korolev allegedly exclaimed: "Do you think that only American rockets explode!?" The Luna 1 mission on 2 January 1959

11050-594: The local glider club. A detachment of military seaplanes had been stationed in Odessa, and Korolev took a keen interest in their operations. In 1923 he joined the Society of Aviation and Aerial Navigation of Ukraine and the Crimea (OAVUK). He had his first flying lesson after joining the Odessa hydroplane squadron and had many opportunities to fly as a passenger. In 1924 he designed an OAVUK construction project glider called

11180-502: The loss of the D-1-A-1100 engine, Isayev began designing a new engine. The RD-1 was completed and tested in October 1944. The general form of the engine was the same as Dushkin's, but with numerous improvements. Isayev fashioned the sections from 12Kh13 stainless chromium steel (13% chromium, 0.12% carbon content). The head had 85 swirling injectors arranged in a honeycomb pattern that promoted improved fuel-oxidizer mixture. It also used

11310-637: The modifications to the R-7 ICBM for a satellite launch, but the project as a whole was falling behind schedule. He feared that the United States would launch a satellite before he could. This was heightened by reports of the American Project Vanguard and a secret 1956 missile launch from Patrick Air Force Base , Florida. Meanwhile, testing of the R-7 rocket engine showed that its specific impulse would be lower than projected and thus insufficient for Object D's specifications. Korolev sent

11440-519: The new 13.734 kN (3,088 lbf) rocket engine under development in the RNII ( Raketnyy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut – reaction engine scientific research institute). Chertok was astounded that the aircraft could almost climb vertically. Bereznyak, Isaev and Chertok visited RNII in March 1941, but the new rocket engine was not working yet. The engine was designed by Leonid Dushkin , who had made

11570-438: The orbital possibilities of the rockets being designed as ICBMs, ideas that were shared by Tikhonravov then working at NII -4. On 26 May 1954, six days after being tasked to lead the R-7 ballistic missile program, Korolev submitted a proposal to use the R-7 to launch a satellite into space, naming a technical report from Tikhonravov and mentioning similar work being carried out by Americans. After receiving lukewarm support from

11700-486: The problem was not reproduced. After BI-6 was sent to TsAGI, BI-9 was put into service as a replacement (marked with a "6" on its tail). Flown by Boris Kudrin and M.A. Baikalov, it was used in glider tests with extra payload weight. The fate of BI-8 is unknown. As turbojet aircraft began to appear in the mid 1940s, the lack of prospects for further development of rocket aircraft in general, and BI in particular, primarily due to limited flight time became evident. However,

11830-488: The recording instruments were too damaged by the crash for a reliable measurement. The 27 March is considered a black day in Soviet aviation history, also being the date that Yuri Gagarin died in a MiG-15UTI crash. In 1973, Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously elevated to Hero of the Soviet Union . In May 1943, OKB-293 returned from its evacuation and set up operation in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. On May 18, Bolkhovitinov wrote

11960-455: The room where we were waiting. He glanced down a list of our names and called on us in alphabetical order to introduce ourselves briefly and talk about our flying careers. On August 11, 1962, Korolyov launched the first group flight with Vostok 3 and 4 (with Andriyan Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich ). The two spacecraft approached each other to 6.5 km. This was based on precise calculations already at launch and not on steering (maneuvering) of

12090-702: The rudder and adding two circular plates to the tail horizontal stabilizer. In October, both OKB-293 and RNII were evacuated to the Urals, along with most of Moscow's war industry. Bolkhovitinov's team was stationed in Bilimbay, and Dushkin's team in Sverdlovsk, about 60 km (37 mi) away. A test stand was built on the shore of frozen lake Bilimbay, with a dynamometer cradle to hold the BI-1 during engine testing. A new test pilot, Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi ,

12220-400: The satellite called for a sophisticated scientific laboratory. Nicknamed " Object D ", it would be the fifth type of payload built for the R-7 missile. Despite earlier work done by Tikhonravov, much of its design, such as pressurized equipment, long-range communications systems, automated switches, and a metal construct to work in space, had little precedent. By mid-1956, Korolev had finalized

12350-485: The satellite had a failure with the engine which caused the satellite to fall back down to Earth in separate pieces. On 15 May 1958, Sputnik 3 was successfully launched into orbit. The tape recorder that was to store the data failed after launch. As a result, the discovery and mapping of the Van Allen radiation belts was left to the United States' Explorer 3 and Pioneer 3 satellites. Sputnik 3 left little doubt with

12480-472: The spacecraft. During the flight, at Korolev's request, Popovich sang the Ukrainian song " Watching the sky and thinking a thought ..." (Ukrainian Дивлюсь я на небо, та й думку гадаю ..., poem by Mykhailo Petrenko ) the first song from outer space. The Voskhod was designed as an incremental improvement on the Vostok to meet Khruschev's goal. As a single capsule would be ineffective for proper travel to

12610-412: The success of the launch. International reaction was electrifying and tumultuous, however, which the Soviets later capitalized on. Political ramifications of the accomplishment continued for decades. Nikita Khrushchev —initially bored with the idea of another Korolev rocket launch—was pleased with this success after the wide recognition, and encouraged launch of a more sophisticated satellite less than

12740-412: The tanks were made from a high-strength chromium-manganese-silicon steel (" Chromansil ") that was not especially resistant to corrosion. Thus, the acid tanks had to be replaced periodically. Compressed air was also used to retract and deploy the landing gear and to power the built-in cannon. On 1 September 1941 the BI-1 was completed and ready for gliding tests by pilot Boris N. Kudrin as Dushkin's engine

12870-498: The test flights, the pilot Boris Kudrin, noticed some tailfin flutter . On May 29, the pilot M.K. Baykalov tested the BI-7 in glider mode, without starting the engine, and the flutter was not detected. At this point, the aircraft was too corroded by nitric acid to fly again, and it was retired. To further investigate the flutter problem, BI-5 was modified in the same fashion as BI-7 (but with no engine) and tested in glider flights; however,

13000-529: The two men. The design bureau was handed over from NKVD control to the government's aviation industry commission. Korolev continued working with the bureau for another year, serving as deputy designer under Glushko and studying various rocket designs. Korolev was commissioned into the Red Army with the rank of colonel in 1945; his first military decoration was the Badge of Honor, awarded in 1945 for his work on

13130-527: The war, the ShVAK was supplanted by the Berezin B-20 , which offered similar performance but weighed significantly less. Three Polikarpov I-16 aircraft, all produced in January 1939, were armed with the propeller-synchronized version of the 12.7 mm ShVAK; this short series was given the I-16 Type 16 designation. The three fighter planes successfully passed the factory trials and were delivered to

13260-436: Was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II . It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK were installed in many models of Soviet aircraft. The TNSh was a version of the gun produced for light tanks ( Russian : ТНШ: Tankovyi Nudel’man-Shpitalnyi ). ShVAK shares the name with its 12.7 mm heavy machine gun predecessor. The development of

13390-408: Was a professor there. Korolev studied specialized aviation topics until 1929, while living with his family in the typically crowded conditions of Moscow. Korolev enjoyed opportunities to fly gliders and powered aircraft during this part of his education. He designed a glider in 1928, and flew it in a competition the next year. The Communist Party accelerated the education of engineers in 1929 to meet

13520-433: Was also working towards reaching these planets, so it was a race to see who would be successful. Korolev's two initial Mars probes suffered from engine failures, and the five probes the Soviet Union launched in hopes of reaching Venus all failed between 1961 and 1962, Korolev himself supervised the launches of all probes. On 1 November 1962, the Soviet Union successfully launched Mars 1 and although communications failed,

13650-566: Was arrested in March 1938 and with many other leading engineers was imprisoned in the Gulag . Korolev was arrested by the NKVD on 27 June 1938 after being accused of a variety of charges, including false charges extracted from Kleymyonov, Langemak and Glushko. He was tortured in the Lubyanka prison to extract a confession. Glushko and Korolev had reportedly been denounced by Andrei Kostikov who became

13780-515: Was assigned to the team. Dushkin was increasingly absorbed by other work, including RNII's own rocket aircraft project, the Kostikov-302 . He assigned his engineer Arvid V. Pallo to oversee the installation and testing of the rocket engine. Nitric acid presented a constant problem, corroding parts and causing skin burns and respiratory irritation. Tanks of sodium carbonate solution were kept around to neutralize acid spills. On 20 February 1942,

13910-545: Was causing considerable problems, driven by hot gas and steam from a small combustion chamber fed with rocket propellants mixed with water, but this system was perfected a few years later for the RD-2M engine. The D-1-A-1100 was built from S54 steel (a 12% chromium alloy). At this point in time, Russian rocket engines were built with typical aviation piston-engine manufacturing technology, weighing 48 kg (106 lb), it could be broken down into discrete forged-steel sections –

14040-438: Was constructed from relatively soft parts (not heat-treated) that were then filed down. This choice of materials was assumed to be motivated by the desire to allow parts to "deform and bend well in advance of fracture" enabling a safer operation at a high rate of fire, but having the tradeoff of shorter overall lifespan of the gun. Soviet archives indicate the 20-mm ShVAK was produced in large numbers during World War II: After

14170-829: Was demoted to section chief of winged missiles and was replaced by Georgy Langemak . Korolev supervised development of cruise missiles and a crewed rocket-powered glider . "Rocket Flight in Stratosphere" was published by Korolev in 1934. On 10 April 1935, Korolev's wife gave birth to their daughter, Natalya; and they moved out of Sergei's parents' home and into their own apartment in 1936. Both Korolev and his wife had careers, and Sergei always spent long hours at his design office. Joseph Stalin 's Great Purge severely damaged RNII, with Director Kleymyonov and Chief Engineer Langemak arrested in November 1937, tortured, made to sign false confessions and executed in January 1938. Glushko

14300-497: Was directed by Khrushchev to cheaply produce more 'firsts' for the piloted program, including a multi-crewed flight. Korolev was reported to have resisted the idea as the Vostok was a one-man spacecraft and the three-man Soyuz was several years away from being able to fly. Khrushchev was not interested in technical excuses and let it be known that if Korolev could not do it, he would give the work to his rival, Vladimir Chelomey . But Russian Space Web describes this demand by Khrushchev as

14430-555: Was fitted with a pair of Igor A. Merkulov 's DM-4 ramjet engines. It did not contain a rocket engine, so it was towed into the air. The pilot, Boris Kudrin, flew the BI-6 three times, but was never able to get both ramjets to start at the same time. The aircraft was taken to TsAGI for further tests in the T-101 wind tunnel. The DM-4 auxiliary motor was also tested on the Yak-7b fighter. With

14560-503: Was flown 12 times under power, seven times with Dushkin's D-1-A-1100 engine, three times with the DM-4 ramjets, and twice with Isaev's RD-1 rocket engine. Data from General characteristics Performance Armament Sergey Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (12 January 1907 [ O.S. 30 December 1906] – 14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during

14690-577: Was followed by additional Vostok flights, culminating with 81 orbits completed by Vostok 5 and the launch of Valentina Tereshkova as the first woman cosmonaut in space aboard Vostok 6 . Korolev proposed communications satellites and the Vostok craft was a spinoff from the Zenit spy satellite useful for photographic reconnaissance and Vostok had its defense importance acknowledged by the military. Korolev planned to move forward with Soyuz craft able to dock with other craft in orbit and exchange crews. He

14820-593: Was followed by the R-3, which had a range of 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi), and thus could target England. Glushko couldn't obtain the required thrust from the R-3 engines, so the project was canceled in 1952; and Korolev joined the Soviet Communist Party that year to request money from the government for future projects including the R-5 , with a more modest 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) range. It completed

14950-573: Was his identity revealed, and he received the appropriate public recognition as the driving force behind Soviet accomplishments in space exploration during and following the International Geophysical Year . Korolev was born in the city of Zhytomyr , the capital of Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine ). His father, Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev, was born in Mogilev to

15080-448: Was intended to impact the surface, but missed by about 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi). Nevertheless, this probe became the first to reach escape velocity and the first to go near the Moon, as well as becoming the first man-made object to orbit the Sun. A subsequent attempt ( Luna E-1A No.1 ) failed at launch, and then Luna 2 successfully impacted the surface on 14 September 1959, giving

15210-492: Was just barely able to re-enter through the airlock, and plans for further Voskhod missions were shelved. In the meantime the change of Soviet leadership with the fall of Khrushchev meant that Korolev was back in favor and given charge of beating the US to landing a man on the Moon. ShVAK cannon The ShVAK ( Russian : ШВАК: Шпитальный-Владимиров Авиационный Крупнокалиберный, Shpitalnyi-Vladimirov Aviatsionnyi Krupnokalibernyi , "Shpitalny-Vladimirov Aviation Large-calibre")

15340-461: Was made on 12 Jan (some sources say 10 Feb) by a temporary test pilot, Konstantin Gruzdev, while Bakhchivandzhi was consulting on Kostikov's "302" project. This time the engine was opened up to full thrust of 10.79 kN (2,430 lb f ) and a speed of 675 km/h (364 kn; 419 mph) was achieved and a maximum altitude of 2,190 m (7,190 ft). During the winter, the landing gear

15470-423: Was made ready. Backchivadzhi made the second flight on 10 Jan 1943, reaching 1,100 m (3,600 ft) but with the engine still throttled back for a maximum speed of 400 km/h (220 kn; 250 mph). The first flight had been with landing gear kept down, and some vibration was observed. For the second flight the landing gear was retracted, and no vibration was observed at the same speed. The third flight

15600-479: Was not happy about the idea of bypassing his fuel pump design, but they backed the plan and cosigned a letter that was eventually shown to Joseph Stalin . After giving a report at the Kremlin, they were ordered to build the aircraft and were given only 35 days to do so. The official order was dated August 1, but work began in late July. The engineers were given leave to visit their families, and then literally lived at

15730-402: Was only ever referred to by the initials of his first two names, SP, or by the mysterious title of "Chief Designer", or simply "Chief". For those on the space program there was no authority higher. Korolev had the reputation of being a man of the highest integrity, but also of being extremely demanding. Everyone around him was on tenterhooks, afraid of making a wrong move and invoking his wrath. He

15860-583: Was relocated to a prison for scientists and engineers in September 1940. These were labor camps where scientists and engineers worked on projects assigned by the Communist party leadership. The Central Design Bureau 29 (CKB-29, ЦКБ-29) of the NKVD, served as Tupolev's engineering facility, and Korolev was brought here to work. During World War II , this sharashka designed both the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber and

15990-421: Was still not ready. A few weeks later, rival aircraft designer A.S. Yakovlev took it upon himself to tow the prototype to TsAGI for windtunnel testing. This alarmed Bolkhovitinov's team, because their patron had a rocky history with Yakovlev, but Alexander Sergeevich and aircraft designer Ilya Florov studied the test results and gave them sound advice for improvements. Yaw instability was corrected by enlarging

16120-434: Was switched from wheels to skis. On one of Gruzdev's flights, one ski broke off during take-off, but he was able to land safely. Bakhchivandzhi returned to make flights in the third prototype BI-3 on 11 March, 14 March and 21 March, reaching a maximum altitude of 4,000 m (13,000 ft) with a maximum rate of climb of 83 m/s (16,300 ft/min). The 21 March flight was with a full load of ammunition, however most of

16250-400: Was the first to complete a flyby of Mars. Later, the Soviet Union launched Venera 3 , which was the first impact of Venus. It was not until after Korolev's death that the Soviet Union impacted Mars. Korolev's group was also working on ambitious programs for missions to Mars and Venus, putting a man in orbit, launching communication, spy and weather satellites, and making a soft-landing on

16380-530: Was the start of his interest in space. Korolev married Xenia Vincentini on 6 August 1931. He had first proposed marriage to her in 1924, but she then declined so she might continue her higher education. In 1931, Korolev and space travel enthusiast Friedrich Zander participated in the creation of the Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD), one of the earliest state-sponsored centers for rocket development in

16510-412: Was to thread the end of their standard barrel and then screw on for whatever length was needed a heavy piece of tubing, the bore diameter of which was slightly greater than that of the rotating band of the projectile. This arrangement allowed the blast and gas to leak around the projectile before it cleared the tube, not only reducing the blast effect of the weapon but also by its added length safely leading

16640-438: Was treated like a god. Leonov recalled the first meeting between Korolev and the cosmonauts. I was looking out of the window when he arrived, stepping out of a black Zis 110 limousine. He was taller than average; I could not see his face, but he had a short neck and large head. He wore the collar of his dark-blue overcoat turned up and the brim of his hat pulled down. "Sit down, my little eagles," he said as he strode into

16770-444: Was unable to see a success. Luna 4 and Luna 6 both missed, Luna 5 , Luna 7 , and Luna 8 all crashed on the Moon. It was not until after Korolev's death that the Soviet Union successfully achieved a soft landing on the Moon with Luna 9 . Towards the latter part of Korolev's life, he had been working on projects for reaching the planets Mars and Venus , and even had spacecraft ready to reach both. The United States

16900-591: Was used in the Petlyakov Pe-8 and Yermolayev Yer-2 bombers. The tank version was installed on the T-38 and T-60 light tanks. ShVAK ammunition consisted of a mix of fragmentation-incendiary and armor-piercing -incendiary rounds. Mild steel projectile case with hardened steel core, surrounded by 2.5 g incendiary, screwed on aluminum, or bakelite ballistic cap There were problems with ammunition development as well. There were cases of premature cook-off of

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