Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko (; ; 1779 – ) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

general of

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

origin. A military engineer, he played an important role in the development of rocket artillery in Russia.

Biography

Zasyadko was born into a Cossack (his father had been the head of artillery of the

Zaporozhian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

) family in the village of Lyutenka, in the

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

. In 1797, Zasyadko graduated from the in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(today the building of the Cadet Corps hosts the A.F. Mozhaysky Military-Space Academy). In 1815, Zasyadko began his work on military gunpowder rockets. He built rocket-launching platforms, which allowed to fire in salvos (6 rockets at a time), and gun-laying devices, and also developed a tactics for the military use of rocket weaponry. In 1820, Zasyadko was appointed head of the Petersburg Armory, the Okhtensky Powder Factory, a pyrotechnic laboratory, and the first Higher Artillery School in Russia. In 1826 he was appointed chief of staff of the Russian artillery. The following year he was in charge of the Artillery Headquarters of the Russian army and took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, in which his rockets played an important role during the sieges of Brăila and

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. Zasyadko organised the development and production of rockets in a specialised workshop, and created the first rocket sub-unit in the Russian Imperial Army. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1829, due to ill health he retired from active service in 1834, settling in the

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

area, where his wife's estate was located. He passed away in 1837.

Legacy and commemoration

* The crater Zasyadko on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. C ...

is named after him. * In 2003 a stamp in honour of Zasyadko was issued in Ukraine.

References

* *

External links

* http://www.space.hobby.ru/firsts/zasyadko.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Zasyadko, Alexander Dmitrievich Military engineers of the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire 19th-century engineers from the Russian Empire Imperial Russian Army generals 1779 births 1837 deaths Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree