Korolev Sergey Pavlovich - history cosmos Russia Part one

"What seemed unrealizable for centuries, which yesterday was only a bold dream, today becomes a real challenge, and tomorrow - an accomplishment!" S.P.Korolev


Sergey Korolev was born on January 12, 1907 in Ukraine, in Zhytomyr in the family of a teacher of literature.

His father Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev graduated with honors from the Nezhinsky Historical and Philological Institute and received the title of teacher of the gymnasium. However, the joint life with his mother Sergei - Maria Nikolaevna Moskalenko, he did not work out. Soon, after moving to Kiev, my parents divorced, and Sergei Korolev was brought up in the family of his mother's parents in Nizhyn. Grandfather and grandmother were very fond of their grandson, they did not like the soul in him.

In Nezhin in 1911, Sergei first saw the flight of an airplane Russian pilot Utochkin and this event shocked the imagination of an impressionable boy. Father Korolyov did not remember. He was brought up by his mother - a teacher and stepfather engineer Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin. In 1917, Sergei and his mother moved to Odessa to stepfather. In 1921, a detachment of hydroplanes GIDRO-3 of the Main Directorate of the Air Force appeared in Odessa. Sergei watched their flights over the sea, dreaming of climbing them into the sky. The case brought the teenager with the mechanic of the hydro squad Vasily Dolganov. A new friend, digging in the engine, explained to Sergei - what's what. After the first "lecture", "practice" began. All summer time he spent in the squadron, helping to prepare aircraft for flights. Korolev became an irreplaceable, trouble-free assistant to mechanics and pilots.

He could not get an average general education at once, because there were no conditions for this. Korolev graduated from a two-year professional construction school. Sergey studied diligently. The class teacher spoke about him to his mother Maria Nikolaevna: "A guy with a king in his head." All this time, Korolyov was still involved in the life of the hydro-aviation detachment. In the patronage of Dolganov, Sergei once flew into the air in a seaplane, which was led by the squad commander and decided to become a pilot. At the same time, the fame of the real mechanic was fixed for Sergei. He also spent hours working in a school production workshop, where wooden products were made. "Joiner's school" is very useful to Sergei, when he began to build gliders.

In 1923 the government appealed to the people with an appeal to build their Air Fleet. In Ukraine, the Society for Aviation and Aeronautics of Ukraine and Crimea (OAVUK).

Korolyov immediately became a member of this society and began to study in one of his glider circles. He lectured workers on gliding. Knowledge of gliding, aviation history, Korolev acquired independently, reading books, including in German. German Sergey Korolev, thanks to his stepfather and the teacher of the construction school Gottlieb Karlovich Ave, who taught lessons in German, knew pretty well. Knowledge of the language is firmly entrenched for him for life.

When in the workshops OAVUK began construction of the glider design of the famous military pilot KA Arceulov, Sergey Korolev took part in the work on it. In April 1924, he participated in the first glider conference in Odessa. At this time in May in Moscow an event of great importance for the history of astronautics occurred - the world's first Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications (JIMS) was founded. His honorary members were Felix Dzerzhinsky and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The main task of this society was to promote work on the implementation of air-to-atmosphere flights with the help of jet vehicles and other scientifically proven means. "

It should be noted that in the late XIX and early XX century in Russia there was a high interest in space.The science fiction was fueled by science fiction writers. Mastering the minds, they contributed to the emergence of scientific and technical ideas. Tsiolkovsky created the space work "Study of the world spaces with reactive devices", published it in 1903. In it, the scientist first developed the theory of jet propulsion and on its basis proved that a liquid-fuel rocket of the scheme suggested by him can achieve the speed necessary to overcome gravity.

People read out a fantastic story "Outside the Earth" by Tsiolkovsky and especially Tolstoy's novel "Aelita." To the cinemas and clubs, where the film was shown on this work, long lines were built. The audience applauded warmly the engineer Mstislav Losk and the Red Army soldier Alexei Gusev, who ventured to go to Mars. It was fantastic. But there was a real Los who developed a spacecraft-an airplane-our compatriot Friedrich Arturovich Zander, a follower of Tsiolkovsky's ideas. Another engineer, Yury Kondratyuk, a theoretician of cosmonautics, was considering the work "To those who will read to build." But Sergei Korolev had not yet read Tsiolkovsky or Tsander, and had heard nothing of Kondratyuk. They will enter into his life later.

While after graduation, Sergei worked as a carpenter, wings roof tiles, later became a machine, a production. The work experience of the Chief Designer began at the age of sixteen. "I will be a builder ... but only planes," - said in those years, Korolev. Maria Nikolaevna in her heart resisted the hobby of her son, expressing her fears about the danger of the life path he chose. The discourteous stepfather opposite treated him calmly. In his stepfather, Sergei found support for his aspirations.

Sergey dreamed of studying at the Air Force Academy in Moscow. But those who served in the Red Army and reached the age of 18 were accepted there. A certificate from Odesa Gubotdel OAVUK about the submission to the Aviation Technical Department of the project of a non-motorized K-5 aircraft designed by him, which, along with the petition for her son, brought the head of the Academy Maria Nikolaevna could help Sergei. However, the uncertainty with admission to the Moscow academy remained. And Sergei decided to enroll in the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, where at that time it was supposed to begin training aviation engineers at the mechanical faculty.

Among the students of the Mechanical Faculty, Sergei was considered one of the youngest and most educated. At the same time, he worked, and by whom he was not in those years: a newsboy, a loader, a carpenter, and a roofer. But still barely made ends meet. In a letter to his mother in Odessa, Sergei wrote: "I get up early in the morning, at five o'clock, I go to the editorial office, take the newspapers, and then run to Solomenka, I spread it." So I earn eight Kurovans.

There was a globular circle at the institute. His work was monitored and helped by many prominent scientists who taught at the KPI. Sergey Korolev became a member of it. He worked, as all are many and enthusiastic. Often at night. Korolev slept sometimes in the workshop on the shavings. He loved to work and was a master of all trades. After that, they never altered anything. Gliders built in the institute workshops, participated in international competitions, receiving the highest marks. At circles there was a rule: who built a glider, he flew on it.

A training glider KPIR-3 was built, he contributed a share of his work and Korolev. Sergei flew on it. One of the flights almost cost him his life. On the border of the site - wasteland, where the gliders were tested, from a pile of garbage a water pipe was sticking out. Sergei did not notice and planted a glider on it. The blow was strong enough and Korolev lost consciousness for a while.

In 1926, after two years of studying at the KPI, Sergei Korolyov was transferred to Moscow for a special evening group on the aerodynamics of the Moscow Higher Technical School. In the afternoon he worked in the design bureau, then at the aviation plant, in the evening he studied. By that time, the mother and stepfather had moved to Moscow. Korolev aspired to aviation. As soon as he entered the MVTU, Sergei immediately joined the work of the student circle of AKNEZH - the Academic Circle named after Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky. Lectures in it were engineers, scientists.

In January 1927, in the Gorok district of Leninsky, the grand opening of the Moscow Glider School took place. Her cadet was also Sergey Korolev. He flew a lot and willingly, learning new types of gliders. In March 1927, Sergei graduated with honors from a glider school. With special impatience Sergey Korolev was waiting for lectures of the aircraft designer Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev, whose aircraft had already plowed the sky by that time. He read the course on aircraft construction for students.

In May 1927, at the international exhibition of interplanetary vehicles Sergei first became acquainted with the work of Zander and Tsiolkovsky's pamphlet "The Study of the World Spaces by Jet Devices." Books, drawings, schemes, artisanal models - everything that was demonstrated at the exhibition, has sunk into the consciousness of Korolev. He began to take a closer look at missiles and space flights.

The student of the graduate course of the MVTU Korolev passed the production practice at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), at the Tupolev Design Bureau. At this time, he was already working at the aircraft factory in Fili. At the same time, he was preparing a thesis project, deciding to design a light-engine twin aircraft SK-4.

The design of the SK-4 aircraft, designed for a record range of flight, turned out to be original, thought through to detail and worked out at the level of a mature specialist. The project manager was Tupolev himself, signing it with the first presentation. This is not the case in the practice of students. The rigor and scrupulousness of the designer were known. The Tupolev approved single-engine two-seater SK-4 project was then built and tested.

In September 1929, Sergey Korolev and his colleague Sergei Lyushin presented an unusual glider to the Sixth All-Union Gliding Competition in Koktebel, approximately 50-90 kilograms heavier than the brothers. At that time it was believed that the smaller the glider, the better. Pilot flight to "Koktebel" was made by K.K.Artseulov, having reported to the members of the technical commission: "The glider is well balanced, well listened to the rudders, you can admit to flying." On the glider Koktebel twenty-two-year-old Korolev set a record pairing. He hovered in the air for more than four hours.