Chief Designer Pt2

In this episode I continue the profile of the man behind the Soviet Space Program.  The man known as the Chief Designer.

Transcript

Paula: 0:00

For the Best Aerospace Era this is mansplaining. Here is the host Anthony L. Sealey

0:11

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. This is the second part of my profile for the man known only as the chief designer. His name, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. If you have not listened to part one, I encourage you to do so. It's the second episode of Season one. One thing I should have mentioned in part one. Is the name of the history professor who authorized my independent study on the space race back at Reinhardt University. This enabled me to receive my college credit for my history degree. His name,, Dr. Jonathan Good now. Now let's get into how one man returned from the oblivion of a Siberian gulag to organizing and leading the first successful effort. And to one of mankind's prime aspirations. The first few years of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race was on the US possessed a superior air Force that could deliver these devastating weapons to Moscow just as it had against the Japanese empire. Soviet leadership viewed this ominous threat with great intensity. The USSR needed a way to deliver their own warheads The Soviets detonated their first nuclear device in August, 1949 and a hydrogen device. Four years later, they had the bomb, but they had no viable way of getting this weapon passed. The superior US Air Force. This is why the V two rocket was so intriguing to the Red Army. The Germans first used the V two rockets against Great Britain in September of 1944. This weapon was blistering fast and caused 2,754 deaths. And 6,523 wounded in Great Britain. It also caused much fear because there was no defense against it. was developed by Wernher von Braun and a team at the Peenemunde complex, the Red Army. Wanted to grab as much information and the German personnel involved with the project Wernher von Braun and around a hundred of his senior staff surrendered to US forces in Project Paperclip. Who or what was left? Korolev was one of the many experts that was sent into German territory. Occupied by the Red Army to find the spoils of war. The operation was disorganized with multiple administrations and specialists in their respected fields vying for leadership. I wanna share a thought that I have here. There were Russian POWs who worked at the Peenemunde complex providing technical work. I've not really found any evidence that any of them made their way back to join the Soviet ICBM and ultimately the space program that this is a possibility. Red Army officers. Coerced remaining German technicians and scientists by guaranteeing that they'd be able to stay in Germany and then forcibly transported them back to Russia. I've seen a documentary that shows Soviets getting the Germans drunk on vodka, and of course, then throwing them in a van or a train car back to Russia. One of them was Helmet Grottrup. A senior technician involved with the V two production. Grottrup led a team of Germans with some Russian engineers to remake V two rockets and demonstrate its potential. After a successful launch. Grottrup proposed a two stage rocket based on the V two that would increase its range. He wanted to prove that his team were the ones who should be tasked to create the first missile capable of delivering a payload anywhere on earth. This effort rivaled Korolev's team, they also had to prove that they could re-engineer a V two with a successful test launch. Korolev believed this was a waste of time. The German engineering was obsolete and the missile was inaccurate. The results of the re-engineered V twos that were renamed the R one backed this up with this certainty Korolev was devout in his belief that Soviet engineers can make a better rocket. And having two rival programs frustrated him greatly. Korolev won the favor of the Red Army, the Communist Party, and Joseph Stalin himself. This is thanks in part Korolev's own persuasive ways. His design bureau, OKB one would be tasked to create a launch vehicle that can deliver a payload anywhere on earth, the first intercontinental ballistic missile or ICB. Many changes happened in Korolev's personal world in the first few years of the Cold War. He was known to have relations, I will call it outside of his marriage. He left his wife and married his new love interest, Nina Ivanovna Kotenkova in 1948. She was much younger and worked as an English interpreter. The world landscape was also changing. The US and its allies were making moves like the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO in 1949. This appeared to threaten the sovereignty of Soviet Russia. The Communist Party also lost its leader, Joseph Stalin, on March 5th, 1953. Nikita Khrushchev took power of the Communist Party that year. He was a very different sort of leader, and had a very much different personality than his predecessor. During this time, Korolev had to study to officially join the Communist Party and fully clear his name from this prior false accusations that sent him to the Gulag in Kolyma. This would help his standing with the Communist Party so he could procure government support and funding in the form of rubles for one project or another. Now let's get on the road to the world's first ICBM and space launch vehicle. Yes, he was working to deliver to the Soviet military a delivery system to send a nuclear warhead anywhere on earth. However, space was his real ambition. In my experience, researching the highly secretive Soviet ICBM and space programs, it is easy to get lost in the many design bureaus that there were. You must keep in mind if how large of a project this was, the guidence systems, the rocket engines. The metal fabrication, the production of the reaction, mass construction of the launch site. This was on the scale of the Manhattan Project. Korolev's Design Bureau was OK B one, although he was listed as the chief designer for many other design bureaus. So what was it like working under the chief designer Grechko, an engineer at OKB one, who later became a Cosmonaut said, I'm meeting the chief designer in 1955. The first time I met Korolev, he asked me many questions. Where was I educated? What kind of lectures did I have at my institute? Why did I ask to work at OKB1? What kind of books and theater did I like? He treated me like an equal. There was no sign in his manner that he was a giant, by the way, once NASA was organized,. It employed thousands through the Mercury, GeminKorolevd Apollo programs. Many lived in Houston, Texas, and around Cape Canaveral, Florida. These workers made enough to live with their wives, kids, maybe a dog or two in nice hot weather. This was not the case in the USSR. Korolev had to actually negotiate and procure living space for his workers at his design bureau. Imagine if your manager at your job had to find you a place to live. Here is another account from an engineer named Maximov who was recruited by and worked under the chief designer In the early 1950s, he had this to say Korolev's Bureau was busy working on ballistic missiles. But Korolev himself was interested in the possibility of space exploration. I told him about my data on artificial satellites. I was young and emotional and had no idea who Korolev was. I said several times, do you understand? Suddenly I felt a kind of invisible wall. Korolev looked at me like a snorting bull and said, I do understand everything. Korolev recruited talent from institutions and universities like Maxima and put them where they were needed and where they would succeed. Maximov had this to say on his experience working under the chief designer. He did not like people who tried to cover up their mistakes. He was a man of strong will, but he was very careful in choosing the technical means to solving problems. We had a lot of meetings with different organizations. Korolev left sucked out the problem, looked at it from various sides, but after choosing the technical means, he became very decisive. Maximov also said Korolev had a tendency to, for punishment. By shouting, swearing, it was not always justified. The next day he would see you and be embarrassed. He wouldn't apologize directly, but he would wordlessly, convey his feelings with maybe a pat on the back. I don't think OKB one had an HR department. He had a way of motivating the workforce and providing guidance when it was needed. Korolev and OKB one's efforts paid off after extensive development in secret, developing the first ICBM. The Semyorka or R seven was successfully launched in 1957. this was a two stage rocket that stood at a height of around 112 feet, depending on its payload. If you have not seen a picture or video of one, I encourage you to look it up. It is an awesome looking rocket. Now on October 4th, 1957 under Korolev's direction, the R seven launched the first artificial satellite Sputnik. Neither Khrushchev or President Eisenhower fully appreciated the implications at first. With global admiration and attention on the Communist Party, Khrushchev said on November 22nd, 1957, our missiles can be fitted with atomic and hydrogen warheads. Thus we proved our superiority in this area. Although this statement was not entirely accurate in the us, the reactions moved from shock to fear. This is why bomb shelters were built and why schools performed. Drills where kids practiced ducking under their desk. Not that that would make a difference. Khrushchev publicly boasted again. On July 9th, 1958, we shall erect an obelisk to the people who have created the rocket and the artificial earth satellites. We shall inscribe the glorious names in gold to make them known to prosperity for centuries in due time for their safety from hostile agents, he might be sent to destroy these outstanding people. We may not yet make them public, their names and their photographs. This is why Korolev's name fell into anonymity and that's why he became known only as the chief designer I years before. After all this boasting on the world stage for the Communist Way by Khrushchev Korolev, reportedly recounted that Khrushchev told him at a meeting in the Kremlin. We never thought you would launch a Sputnik before the Americans, but you did it. Now please launch something new in space for the next anniversary of our revolution. The anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution was in one month. This began a common and at times frustrating theme for Korolev in his career as a chief designer. Khrushchev and the Communist Party wanted Korolev to demonstrate their superiority through space achievements. This is not exclusive to the Soviets. We all remember John F. Kennedy famously declaring. That we will land a man on the moon before this decade's out. Here's a question though. These world leaders provided the support and money needed for the space programs, but they were not rocket engineers and they should not be making deadlines and picking dates for missions only defer their own agendas should they? You also have to wonder for Korolev though, did he fear that if he failed to deliver, could he be sent back to a Gulag or worse? It had happened before. Either way, the number of space first Korolev and OKB one personnel achieved was remarkable. Here is a short list for you. Sputnik, the first artificial satellite launched on October 4th, 1957. Sputnik two carrying Laika, the first dog in space on November 3rd, 1957. This was the one Khrushchev wanted for the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Luna two, the first probe to impact the moon on September 12th, 1959, a decade before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface. Vostok one launched on April 12th, 1961. Yuri Gagarin, who Korolev personally picked for this very mission was launched into orbit. He became immortalized as the first man in space. Vostok six launched on June 16th, 1963. The first woman in orbit, Valentina Tereshkova, was also picked by Korolev Voskhod. One launched on October 12th, 1964. It carried three cosmonauts. I'm gonna talk about this one here in a minute. Voskhod two launched on March 18th. 1965, the first EVA, Cosmonaut, Alexi Leonov became the first man to walk freely outside of a spacecraft in orbit. To everyone on the outside of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Space program appeared to be the preeminent authority on space. However, no one on the outside knew of the many failed launches. In between Soviet space, launches were made in secret in a remote area in Kazakhstan, near Borre. A far cry from NASA's launch in Florida. Open to the public eyes. Korolev appeared in a few pictures in the background with his cosmonauts who became world famous. He is a very unassuming figure in the background, standing with other personnel. He did not dress in a suit and tie, but read the wore common, but respectable clothes. That a man of the time would wear in Soviet Russia he wore a long overcoat and a brimmed hat. Cordle appears stout with a thick neck, square jaw, and black hair. He has a very serious demeanor. What you can see though, is the drive behind his dark eyes. As I said before, there was a theme of Khrushchev and the Kremlin interfering with Korolev's work and timeline because they wanted space achievements that beat NASA. In 1964, the first launch of the Gemini program was imminent. The awesome Gemini spacecraft was equipped with two seats., According to Vassily Mishin, who was Korolev's second in command said Khrushchev. Phoned Korolev and ordered the launch of three cosmonauts right away. Ok. B one did not have a spacecraft capable of doing this, at least not safely. There was a modified and improved version of the single seat Vostok spacecraft in the works. Korolev tasked his engineers at KB one to strip it down so that three men could fit. By the way, Korolev chose the shape of the Vostok, not because it was the simplest or the best, but because he thought it was an elegant shape. They were in the shape of a sphere. A Voshkod is really just a modified Vostok. One engineer on this project named Konstantin Feoktistov suggested eliminating the conventional ejection system in addition to having the cosmonauts fly without spacesuits three could fit this way. Flying in orbit without a spacesuit is beyond negligent and borderline suicidal. After the work was complete, the spacecraft was renamed the Voskhod Feoktistov recalled. The final decision was made by iv and he picked me to fly the mission. Imagine how that conversation went down. So everything is ready. And you believe the Vasco will return the Cosman knots back to Earth safely? Yes sir. Good.'cause you're going on it. I wonder if, Feoktistov went back and checked a few things after this conversation. Cor Lev was, was more aware than anyone and how bad of an idea this mission was. However he needed leverage for support on the N one L three manned lunar project. I have read that Korolev now in his fifties could be seen sweating in his heart race, the entire mission. The stress caused him to nearly faint after the three cramped cosmonauts returned safely. The once athletic Korolev, who excelled in swimming in gymnastics as a teenager back in Ukraine, was long gone his time in the Kalima, Gulag in the long hours and stress of being the chief designer had taken his toll in my opinion, Voskod one and Sputnik two should have never happened until they could have been performed safely. interestingly. Nikita Khrushchev was ousted from leadership on October 14th, 1964. The day after Voskod returned, Leonid Brezhnev became the Soviet leader. Later that year. I spoke to his worth ethic in Part one, the long hours, the endless meetings with Communist Party members and ministers, the competition with other bureaus for financial support, the assistance of space first from Khrushchev, and of course the space race against nasa. A Soviet General named Kamanin had this to say about Korolev. He spread himself too thin and tried to keep everything under his control. This explained his continual conflicts with Glushko and other chief designers. It was becoming too much to bear. For the always exhausted correlative whose health continued to decline. He was achieving his ultimate dream of exploring space. But a man can only run an adrenaline for so long. His heart was very weak, although none of his colleagues knew this. He was known to say at KB one, I will die right here at this desk. In late 1965, however, Korolev left said to a colleague at KB one, I'll just reach 60 and that's all. I will not stay here a day longer. This statement was very outta character for the chief designer who never caught in sick, and was always working late. On January 14th, 1966, Korolev was forced to call in sick. He was scheduled to have minor surgery that would only keep him out three or four days. Korolev had a big undertaking waiting for him when he got back'cause he finally got the go ahead for the N one L three lunar project. During the routine operation, Korolev began to bleed out. A massive cancerous tumor was found in his intestines. The physician Petrovsky spent eight hours cutting the tumor out. After the tumor was removed, the medical staff was unable to revive him. Korolev's body and heart were too weak to recover. The chief designer was gone. Sergey Pavlovich Korolev was only 59 years old. On January 17th, 1966 at the Hall of Commons of the House of Unions in Moscow, a massive ceremonial funeral took place. Only heroes of the Communist Party in the USSR were honored. In this way, the world watch behind the Iron Curtain into the highly secretive nation. Who was this person of high status who had just died? There was a hint. The honor guard included world famous cosmonauts, lake Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, and Paval Popovich. The world learned the name of the man who directed the Soviet Space Program, the chief designer himself. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. The urn with Korolev's ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall on the red square, a place not open to the public. He was a rare combination of engineer, rocket scientists and master manager. He balanced more than one person should have ever had. Whereas in the US we had NASA whose administration handle the man space missions. Then you had the CIA who worked on spy satellites. Then you had the US Army, Navy Air Force who worked on medium and long range missiles. These are large government bureaucracies with committees and managers, not to mention all the government contractors involved with these projects. NASA employed over 400,000. They had better computers, electronics, and a more optimal launch location in Florida. Also Washington Spents far more on his space programs than Moscow. Korolev had his eyes, in some cases, his hands on most such projects involving rocket engines, ICBMs, guidance systems, satellites, man, spacecrafts, you name it. From the beginning of our existence, we have dreamed of reaching the heavens in the night sky. Korolev's relentless. Drive conquered the heavens first and made the space age every reality. I would be missioning Korolev many more times here on Mansplaneing in the future episodes. The story of Korolev's life is incredible. Here's a man who was falsely accused of treason by the NKVD and then sent to a Siberian Gulag to only return and become the preeminent authority on the first successful space program in mankind's history. If you wanna learn more about the man. In the great accomplishments he orchestrated. Then I suggest you read these two books. Korolev by James Harford and the other Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge. Asif Siddiqi Thank you so much for listening, and remember, there's always a light at the end of the runway.

Paula: 31:07

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