2. Yu. P. Semenov, ed., Raketno-Kosmicheskaya Korporatsiya "Energiya" imeni S. P. Koroleva (Korolev: RKK Energiya named after S. P. Korolev, 1996), 22.
3. For an english language summary of the details of Tikhonravov's research during the 1940s and early 1950s as well as the famous 1954 report itself, see Asif A. Siddiqi, "Before Sputnik: Early Satellite Studies in the Soviet Union, 1947-1957," forthcoming in two parts in Spaceflight, October and November 1997. Tikhonravov's document has been reproduced as M. Tikhonravov, "Report on an Artificial Satellite of the Earth" (in Russian) in B. V. Raushenbakh, ed., Materialy po istorii kosmicheskogo korabl 'vostok' (Moscow: Nauka, 1991), 5-15.
4. The text of this letter in a censored version has been published as S. P. Korolev, "On the Possibility of Work on an Artificial Satellite of the Earth" (in Russian), M. V. Keldysh, ed., Tvorcheskoye naslediye Akademika Sergeya Pavlovicha Koroleva: izbrannyye trudy i dokumenty (Moscow: Nauka, 1980), 343.
5. Semenov, 1996, 86. The co-authors of the proposal were: B. L. Vannikov (First Deputy Minister of Medium Machine Building), M. V. Khrunichev (First Deputy Minister of Medium Machine Building), and K. N. Rudnev (Deputy Minister of Defense Industries). Of interest is the fact that Malyshev, Vannikov, and Khrunichev were all high officials in the nuclear weapons industry. Rudnev was the only one from the missile industry.
6. Edward Clinton Ezell and Linda Neumann Ezell, The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-4209, 1978), 16; Nicholas Daniloff, The Kremlin and the Cosmos (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), 54.
7. A. Yu. Ishlinskiy, ed., Akademik S. P. Korolev: ucheniy, inzhener, chelovek (Moscow: Nauka, 1986), 453; Boris Konovalov, "The Genealogy of Sputnik" (in Russian), in V. Shcherbakov, ed., Zagadki zvezdnykh ostrovov (Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1989), 115.
8. "Commission on Interplanetary Communications" (in Russian), Vechernaya moskva (April 16, 1955), 1. An English translation of the announcement is included in F. J. Krieger, Behind The Sputniks: A Survey of Soviet Space Science (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1958), 328-330. The names of only four other members were announced at the time: V. A. Ambartsumyan, P. L. Kapitsa, B. V. Kukarin, and P. P. Parenago. A larger 27 member list was submitted to the International Astronautical Federation in October 1957.
9. "Commission on Interplanetary Communications," 1955.
10. Of the 27 Commission members listed in 1957, only two individuals, A. A. Blagonravov and D. Ye. Okhotsimskiy, were directly involved in the ballistic missile and space programs. The former headed the Commission for Upper Atmosphere Research of the Academy of Sciences which oversaw all scientific suborbital launches, while the latter was one of the leading mathematicians at the Department of Applied Mathematics of the V. A. Steklov Mathematics Institute of the Academy of Sciences (OPM MIAN) who was involved in the early design of the R-7 ICBM. See also Ishlinskiy, 1986, 453.
11. Ezell and Ezell, 1978, 18.
12. Robert W. Buchheim and the Staff of the Rand Corporation, Space Handbook: Astronautics and its Applications (New York: Random House, 1959), 277; "We'll Launch 1st Moon, and Bigger, Says Russ," Los Angeles Examiner (August 3, 1955); John Hillary, "Soviets Planning Early Satellite," The New York Times (August 3, 1955).
13. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 445; Yaroslav Golovanov, "The Beginning of the Space Era" (in Russian), Pravda (October 4, 1987), 3. Note that in Semenov, 1996, 86, it is stated that the report was authored only by Lavrov and it was completed on 16 June 1955, not 16 July 1955. Tikhonravov himself has, however, claimed they both authored the report.
14. Semenov, 1996, 87.
15. Semenov, 1996, 87. Keldysh's official posts were: Director of the NII-1 and Chief of the OPM MIAN. Mrykin's official post was First Deputy Commander of the Directorate of the Chief of Reactive Armaments (UNRV). The UNRV was subordinate to the Chief Artillery Directorate (GAU) of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense.
16. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 455; Yaroslav Golovanov, Korolev: fakty i mify (Moscow: Nauka, 1994), 523-524; Golovanov, 1987. Others present at this meeting were M. A. Lavrentiyev and G. A. Skuridin.
17. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 455-456; Christian Lardier, L'Astronautique Soviétique (Paris: Armand Colin, 1992), 107; Golovanov, 1987. Blagonravov's commission was at the time directing the scientific investigations on board suborbital rockets, while Sedov's commission had recently been established as a public forum for Soviet scientists to discuss space exploration.
18. These included: atmospheric specialists V. I. Krasovskiy, L. V. Kurnosovaya, and S. N. Vernov; the young mathematicians from the OPM MIAN T. M. Eneyev, M. L. Lidov, D. Ye. Okhotsimskiy, and V. A. Yegorov; solar battery expert N. S. Lidorenko; and the more famous Academicians L. A. Artsimovich, V. L. Ginsburg, A. F. Ioffe, P. L. Kapitsa, B. P. Konstantinov, and V. A. Kotelnikov. See Ishlinskiy, 446, 456; Golovanov, 1987.
19. Keldysh, 1980, 362; Ishlinskiy, 1986, 445; Konovalov, 1989, 116-117; Golovanov, 1994, 529; Semenov, 1996, 87. B. Konovalov, "Dash to the Stars" (in Russian), Izvestiya (October 1, 1987), 3. The five industrial ministries were: the Ministry of Defense Industries, the Ministry of Radiotechnical Industry, the Ministry of Ship Building Industry, the Ministry of Machine Building, and the Ministry of Defense.
20. Raushenbakh, 1991, 209. A, B, V, G, and D are the first five letters of the Russian cyrillic alphabet.
21. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 446; Golovanov, 1994, 530; Timothy Varfolomeyev, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space: Part 1: From First ICBM to Sputnik Launcher," Spaceflight (August 1995), 260-263.
22. Golovanov, 1994, 530; Lardier, 1992, 107. Tikhonravov was officially an employee of the NII-4 but was temporarily working as the Chief Consultant to the NII-88 OKB-1.
23. An edited version of Keldysh's speech has been published as M. V. Keldysh, "On Artificial Satellites of the Earth" (in Russian), V. S. Avduyevskiy and T. M. Eneyev, eds. M. V. Keldysh: izbrannyye trudy: raketnaya tekhnika i kosmonavtika (Moscow: Nauka, 1988), 235-240; See also Golovanov, 1994, 530.
24. Kaliningrad was the location of the OKB-1, while sea trials of the R-11FM were carried out near Molotovsk. Kapustin Yar and Tyura-Tam were the two missile launch ranges.
25. This was a Jupiter C missile (no. RTV-1) which flew a distance of 5,300 kilometers on 20 September 1956 during a re-entry test. A live third stage could have put a small payload into orbit, but this was not the intended goal.
26. Golovanov, 1987; Golovanov, 1994, 532.
27. The complete text of Korolev's letter is reproduced as S. P. Korolev, "Proposal on the First Launch of an Artificial Satellite of the Earth Before the Start of the International Geophysical Year" (in Russian) in Keldysh, 1980, 369-370.
28. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 447.
29. Semenov, 1996, 88, 632.
30. Golovanov, 1987.
31. Golovanov, 1987.
32. V. Pappo-Korystin, V. Platonov, and V. Pashchenko, Dneprovskiy raketno-kosmicheskiy tsentr (Dnepropetrovsk: PO YuMZ/KBYu, 1994), 60; S. N. Konyukhov and V. A. Pashchenko, "History of Space Launch Vehicles Development," presented at the 46th International Astronautical Congress, October 2-6, 1995, Oslo, Norway, IAA-95-IAA 2.2.09. The range of the missile was about 2,000 kilometers.
33. Yu. Biryukov, "From the History of Space Science: The Price of Decision--First Place (The First Satellites)" (in Russian), Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika (October 1991), no. 10: 37-39. Author's emphasis.
34. Golovanov, 1987; Golovanov, 1994, 514; Council of Veterans of the Baykonur Cosmodrome, Proryv v kosmos: ocherki ob ispitatelyakh spetsialistakh i stroitelyakh kosmodroma Baykonur (Moscow: TOO Veles, 1994), 25, 174
35. "Report on Intercontinental Ballistic Missile" (in Russian), Pravda (August 27, 1957). A complete English translation of the press release is included in Krieger, 1958, 233-234.
36. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 447; V. Lysenko, ed., Three Paces Beyond the Horizon (Moscow: Mir Publishers, 1989), 58.
37. I. Minyuk and G. Vetrov, "Fantasy and Reality" (in Russian), Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika (September 1987), no. 9: 46-47.
38. M. K. Tikhonravov, "The Creation of the First Artificial Earth Satellite: Some Historical Details," Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (May 1994), V. 47, no. 5: 191-194.
39. Tikhonravov, 1995; G. A. Kustova, Ot pervogo Sputnika do "Energii" - "Burana" i "Mir" (Kaliningrad: RKK Energiya, 1994), 37; Jacques Villain, ed., Baïkonour: la porte des étoiles (Paris: Armand Colin, 1994), 26; Golovanov, 1994, 537.
40. O. G. Ivanovskiy, Naperekor zemnomy prityazhenyu (Moscow: Politicheskoy literatury, 1988), 167-169.
41. Mikhail Florianskiy, "October 4 -- For the First Time in the World," Moscow News Supplement (1987), no. 40.
42. Varfolomeyev, 1995; Keldysh, 1980, 365; Yu. A. Mozzhorin et al., eds., Nachalo kosmicheskoy ery: vospominaniya veteranov raketno-kosmicheskoy tekhniki i kosmonavtiki: vypusk vtoroy (Moscow: RNITsKD, 1994), 60-61.
43. Council of Veterans of the Baykonur Cosmodrome, 1994, 29-30.
44. Semenov, 1996, 90. 'ISZ' is the Russian abbreviation for Artificial Satellite of the Earth. The 8K71PS was the industrial designation for the modified version of the R-7 used for the satellite launch.
45. Yu. V. Biryukov, "Materials from the Biographical Chronicles of Sergey Pavlovich Korolev" (in Russian), in B. V. Raushenbakh, ed., Iz istorii sovetskoy kosmonavtiki (Moscow: Nauka, 1983), 238; Lardier, 1992, 93; Golovanov, 1994, 517. Soviet leader Khrushchev is said to have been present at this launch, but this is unconfirmed by Soviet or Russian sources.
46. S. P. Korolev, "On the Practical Significance of K. E. Tsiolkovskiy's Proposals in the Field of Rocket Technology" (in Russian), in B. V. Raushenbakh, ed., Issledovaniya po istorii i teorii razvitiya aviatsionnoy i raketno-kosmicheskoy nauki i tekhniki (Moscow: Nauka, 1981), 40. This is a complete version of his speech. An abridged English translation has been reproduced in Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology, History of the USSR: New Research. 5: Yuri Gagarin: To Mark the 25th Anniversary of the First Manned Space Flight (Moscow: Social Sciences Today, 1986), 48-63. Note that the latter does not include the above quote.
47. The State Commission for the Launch of the Object PS-1 comprised the following members: Chairman V. M. Ryabikov (Chairman of the VPK); V. P. Barmin (Chief Designer of GKSB SpetsMash); I. T. Bulychev (Deputy Chief of Military Communications of the Ministry of Defense' General Staff); V. P. Glushko (Chief Designer of OKB-456); S. P. Korolev (Chief Designer of OKB-1); V. I. Kuznetsov (Chief Designer of NII-944); A. A. Maksimov (from the UNRV); A. G. Mrykin (First Deputy Chief of the UNRV); M. I. Nedelin (Deputy Minister of Defense for Reactive Armaments); A. I. Nesterenko (Commander of the NIIP-5); G. N. Pashkov (Deputy Chairman of the VPK); N. A. Pilyugin (Chief Designer of NII-885); M. S. Ryazanskiy (Chief Designer and Director of NII-885); S. P. Shishkin (Chief Designer at Arzamas-16). Others involved were: A. F. Bogolomov (Chief Designer of the OKB-MEI); M. V. Keldysh (Director of NII-1 and Chief of the OPM MIAN); I. T. Peresypkin (Minister of Communications); K. N. Rudnev (Deputy Minister of Defense Industries); G. R. Udarov (Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Defense Technology); and S. M. Vladimirskiy (Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Radio Electronics). See Yu. A. Skopinskiy, "State Acceptance of the Space Program: Thirty Years of Work" (in Russian), Zemlya i vselennaya (September-October 1988), 73-79; Lardier, 1992, 285.
48. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 447; Lardier, 108-109; Konovalov, 1989, 122-123.
49. Golovanov, 1994, 537-538.
50. This document was not actually signed until the morning of the launch. See Ishlinskiy, 1986, 448.
51. Mozzhorin, 1994, 63.
52. Golovanov, 1987.
53. Golovanov, 1987.
54. Ivan Borisenko and Alexander Romanov, Where All Roads Lead to Space Begin (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1982), 66.
55. Mozzhorin, 1994, 63. The author of this quote is (at the time) OKB-1 engineer Ye. V. Shabarov.
56. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 448, 464; B. Ye. Chertok, Rakety i lyudi: Fili Podlipki Tyuratam (Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1996), 197.
57. Mozzhorin, 1994, 64.
58. Ishlinskiy, 1986, 464;
59. Daniloff, 1972, 65-66.
60. "Announcement of the First Satellite" (in Russian), Pravda (October 5, 1957). A complete English translation of this announcement is included in Krieger, 1958, 311-312.
61. "Report on the First Satellite" (in Russian), Pravda (October 9, 1957). A complete English translation of this article in included in Krieger, 1958, 313-325.