Leonid Stepanovich Dushkin (Леонид Степанович Душкин) (August 15, 1910 in the Spirove settlement of the

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

region – April 4, 1990), was a major pioneer of Soviet rocket engine technology. He graduated from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

with a degree in mathematics and mechanics. In October 1932, he joined Fridrikh Tsander's brigade of

GIRD The Moscow-based Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (also known as the ''Group for the Investigation of Reactive Engines and Reactive Flight'' or ''Jet Propulsion Study Group''; ), abbreviated as GIRD (), was a Soviet research bureau founded ...

, the Moscow rocket research group. He assisted in the creation of their first rocket engine OR-2, and after Tsander's death, he oversaw the creation of engine "10" which powered the first Soviet liquid-fuel rocket, GIRD-X. Dushkin became part of the

Reactive Scientific Research Institute Reactive Scientific Research Institute (commonly known by the joint initialism RNII; ) was one of the first Soviet research and development institutions to focus on rocket technology. RNII developed the Katyusha rocket launcher and its researc ...

(RNII) when GIRD and the

Gas Dynamics Laboratory Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) () was the first Soviet research and development laboratory to focus on rocket technology. Its activities were initially devoted to the development of Solid-propellant rocket, solid propellant rockets, which becam ...

(GDL) merged in 1933. Dushkin's engines were among the first to be regeneratively cooled, and he also experimented with uncooled engines of high-temperature ceramic. The 12K engines were both types, and powered the Aviavnito rocket. After the arrest of

Valentin Glushko Valentin Petrovich Glushko (; ; born 2 September 1908 – 10 January 1989) was a Soviet engineer who was program manager of the Soviet space program from 1974 until 1989. Glushko served as a main designer of rocket engines in the Soviet progra ...

, Dushkin took over the development of rocket engines for the rocket-enhanced fighter plane RP-318. He became the leader of the department of liquid propellant rocket engines the NII-3 beginning in January 1938. Starting with Glushko's engines (ORM-65 and RD-1), he began a series of important engineering transformations, moving the fuel injectors to a head at one end of a cylindrical chamber, typical of modern design. The RDA-150, RDA-300 used nitric acid as an oxidizer, RDK-150 used liquid oxygen. The 1100 kgf thrust engine, D-1-A-1100 was developed for the rocket-powered interceptor BI-1. It was also regeneratively cooled, using the kerosine to cool the chamber, and the nitric acid to cool the nozzle. Starting with that engine,

Aleksei Mihailovich Isaev Aleksei Mikhailovich Isaev (also Isayev; Russian: Алексе́й Миха́йлович Иса́ев; October 24, 1908, in Saint Petersburg – June 10, 1971, in Moscow) was a Soviet engineer in the Soviet space program, working on rocket com ...

began the evolution of his engines, which continued the evolution of engines toward the space-rocket engines of the 1950s.

References

{{Authority Control 1910 births 1990 deaths Rocket scientists Tver State University alumni Soviet scientists Soviet engineers