Tikhonravov Credit - NASA

Personal: Male. Born in Russia.

Designer at Nll-4 and Korolev design bureau. Leader in development of Sputnik and Vostok spacecraft. Also performed early ICBM work and was pioneering rocketeer at GIRD and Nll-3.

Pioneering Soviet scientist and engineer in the field of missile construction and astronautics, After graduating from the Zhukovskiy air force academy in 1925 he worked in the number of aviation enterprises. In 1932 he was named the chief of a work brigade at GIRD (Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion) and created the first Soviet bipropellant rocket engine. From 1934 he was a division head at RNII - Scientific Research Institute of Jet Propulsion. There he led development of sounding rockets for study of the upper atmosphere, and improving the accuracy of unguided military rockets. From the mid-1940’s he was occupied with design of high-altitude rockets. He was a key participant in the creation of Sputnik 3, the Vostok manned spacecraft, and early planetary probes. From 1962 he was a professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI).

Awards and Honours

Corresponding member of the international academy of astronautics (1968). Lenin Prize in 1957 for his work on the first Sputniks. Two Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War. Doctor of technical sciences (1958), Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation (1970), Hero of Socialist Labour (1961).

26 May 1954 - Soviet decree authorising start of studies of satellite systems. The technological basis was the N-3 project, which covered various engine and propulsion approaches. In 1955 a unit was formed within Tikhonravov's section of OKB-1 to develop the first satellite; this included Feoktistov, Bazhinov, Maksimov, and Soldatora.