Korolyov, Sergey Pavlovich

born Jan. 12, 1907, [Dec. 30, 1906, Old Style], Zhitomir, Russia

died Jan. 14, 1966, Moscow

Soviet designer of guided missiles, rockets, and spacecraft.

Korolyov was educated at the Odessa Building Trades School, the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, and the Moscow N.E. Bauman Higher Technical School, where he studied aeronautical engineering under the celebrated designers Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky and Andrey Nikolayevich Tupolev. Becoming interested in rocketry, he and F.A. Tsander formed the Moscow Group for the Study of Reactive Motion, and in 1933 the group launched the Soviet Union's first liquid-propellant rocket.

During World War II Korolyov was held under technical arrest but spent the years designing and testing liquid-fuel rocket boosters for military aircraft. After the war he modified the German V-2 missile, increasing its range to about 426 miles (685 km). He also supervised the test firing of captured V-2 missiles at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in 1947. In 1953 he began to develop the series of ballistic missiles that led to the Soviet Union's first intercontinental ballistic missile. Essentially apolitical, he did not join the Communist Party until after Stalin's death in 1953.

Korolyov was placed in charge of systems engineering for Soviet launch vehicles and spacecraft; he directed the design, testing, construction, and launching of the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz manned spacecraft as well as of the unmanned spacecraft in the Cosmos, Molniya, and Zond series. He was the guiding genius behind the Soviet spaceflight program until his death, and he was buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square. In accordance with the Soviet government's space policies, his identity and role in his nation's space program were not publicly revealed until after his death.

Essential vocabulary:

1. aeronautical - авиационный

2. celebrated – знаменитый, известный

3. rocketry - ракетостроение

4. to launch – запускать (ракету)

5. liquid-propellant (liquid-fuel) - жидкотопливный

6. to be held under arrest – быть под арестом

7. rocket booster - ракетоноситель

8. missile – ракета, реактивный снаряд

9. to supervise - заведовать

10. to fire of smth. – стрелять, палить чем-либо

11. captured missile – заряженная снарядами ракета

12. to be placed in charge of smth. – быть ответственным за что-либо, заведовать

13. manned - пилотируемый

14. to bury - хоронить

15. identity – личность, индивидуальность

16. to reveal – показывать

I. Give your own definitions to the following words and word combinations:

1. to educate

2. a celebrated person

3. a spacecraft

4. to supervise

5. apolitical

6. unmanned

7. to test smth.

II. Find the English equivalents of the following words and phrases in the text:

• под руководством ведущих дизайнеров

• интересоваться ракетостроением

• военная авиация

• межконтинентальные баллистические ракеты

• пилотируемый космический корабль

• быть похороненным

• стать достоянием общественности

• сформировать группу

• проводить годы под арестом

• руководить строительством

• политика правительства

• ведущий специалист

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What other outstanding designers and constructors except Korolyov do you know? Tell about them.

2. Why did Korolyov and Tsander form the Moscow Group?

3. Did Korolyov stop working during the World War II?

4. How did Korolyov modify the German V-2 missile?

5. Why didn’t he join the Communist Party?

6. Why wasn’t his role in rocketry revealed during those years?

IV. Retell this story of life as if you were Sergey Pavlovich himself.