Oleg Genrikhovich Ivanovsky (; 18 January 1922 – 18 September 2014) was a Russian engineer in the former
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Euro ...
who played a pioneering role in
spacecraft construction.
Ivanovsky graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1953. Designer-General
Sergei Korolev recruited him into the Soviet space program. Ivanovsky rose to chief designer at OKB-1, Korolev's design bureau. Among other things he was deputy principal designer of the first and second
Sputniks, principal designer of
Vostok manned spaceships, and creator of
space probe
Uncrewed spacecraft or robotic spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input, such as remote control, or remote guidance. They may also be autonomous, in which th ...
s. Ivanovsky personally helped
Yuri Gagarin mount the gantry and climb into
Vostok 1 and helped rebolt the hatch after Gagarin complained that it had not been closed and sealed correctly. He was said to be the last person to shake Gagarin's hand before the Vostok 1 flight. Ivanovsky was the Recipient of the
Lenin Prize (1960) and
USSR State Prize (1977).
Obituary: Soviet Space Pioneer Oleg Ivanovsky Dies
Aviation Week and Space Technology, Septemberv 29, 2014, p.11
References
Further reading
* "Rockets and people" by B. E. Chertok: "mechanical engineering", 1999, - ;
* J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", Nauka, 1994, ;
* "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., Kyiv, 2014., publishing house "Phoenix",
* "S. P. Korolev. Encyclopedia of life and creativity" - edited by C. A. Lopota, RSC Energia. S. P. Korolev, 2014
1922 births
2014 deaths
20th-century Russian engineers
Engineers from Moscow
Moscow Power Engineering Institute alumni
Recipients of the Lenin Prize
Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia)
Recipients of the Medal of Zhukov
Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Early spaceflight scientists
Employees of RSC Energia
Rocket scientists
Russian aerospace engineers
Russian mechanical engineers
20th-century Russian memoirists
Russian space program personnel
Soviet aerospace engineers
Soviet mechanical engineers
Soviet memoirists
Soviet space program personnel
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