Valery Geidarovich Aliev (

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 ...

: Валерий Гейдарович Алиев, IPA: ɐˈlʲerʲɪj ɡʲɪjdɐˈrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲijɪf born 9 February 1941,

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

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

) is a Soviet and Russian scientist, spacecraft engineer and innovator, member of the Tsiolkovsky Space Academy and the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is a Paris-based non-government association for the field of astronautics. It was founded in Stockholm, Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán. It was recognised by the United Nation ...

. Valery Aliev was Executive Vice President at ELUS (Energia Logistics United States, 2010–2015), chief scientist and deputy general designer at Energia Corporation (2010–2017), advisor to the CEO of S7 Space LLC (2017–2019), advisor at RTSS (Reusable Transport Space Systems LLC, 2019–2023).

Life and career

In 1964, Valery Aliev graduated from the Department of Physics and Technology of the Dnipropetrovsk State University (now the

Oles Honchar Dnipro National University The Oles Honchar Dnipro National University ( DNU, ) is a state-sponsored university located in Dnipro, Ukraine. It was founded in 1918. The first four faculties were History and Linguistics, Law, Medicine, and Physics and Mathematics. Nowaday ...

) with a degree in

Aerospace Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and joined the Energia Corporation, then known as the Special Design Bureau no. 1, to work under

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

. His first project (1965–1970) involved improving the

propulsive efficiency In aerospace engineering, concerning aircraft, rocket and spacecraft design, overall propulsion system efficiency \eta is the efficiency with which the energy contained in a vehicle's fuel is converted into kinetic energy of the vehicle, to acceler ...

of the N1 carrier rocket and the related lunar system. Aliev’s next area of responsibility was the design and development of the Buran spaceplane, a programme he followed first as a group lead, then as a tech lead, and f inally a department head. In 1991–1996, Aliev oversaw the integration of the American and Russian systems under the aegis of the Shuttle–Mir programme that enabled the US Space Shuttles to

rendezvous Rendezvous or rendez-vous may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Rendezvous'' (1923 film), a silent film adventure melodrama * ''Rendezvous'' (1930 film), a German musical directed by Carl Boese * ''Rendezvous ...

and

dock The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engl ...

at the Russian

Space Station Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

. In this capacity, he joined the intergovernmental Russian–American expert advisory board alongside

Vladimir Utkin Vladimir Fyodorovich Utkin (; 17 October 1923 – 15 February 2000) was a Russian engineer and rocket scientist in the Soviet Union. He developed railcar- launched ICBM RT-23 Molodets and other Soviet rockets. Early life Utkin was born in th ...

. In 1993, Aliev became a

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

and proceeded to oversee the development of the prototype of a space energy module with a solar gas turbine instead of the regular solar batteries. He went on to become deputy general designer (2000), programme lead (2000–2010), and department head (2010–2017) at Energia. In 2010–2015, Aliev also served as Vice President and launch director at Energia Logistics US, a California-based affiliate of Russian Energia responsible for engineering services and management of the

Zenit-3SL The Zenit-3SL was an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it was launched 36 times, with three failures and one partial failure. It was a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye Des ...

launch system for

Sea Launch Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999 to 2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial l ...

— a multinational company specialised in satellite structures. Notably, Aliev was in charge of developing and implementing solutions for the port base of

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

and the ocean-based

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

launch platform that moved to the equatorial

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

for take-off. In total, Aliev supervised 36 successful missions from Sea Launch, starting from 2005. After his retirement in 2017, Aliev continued a productive career of executive advisor first for

S7 Space Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999 to 2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial l ...

(2017–2019), then for RTSS (Reusable Transport Space Systems LLC, 2019–2023).

Bibliography

Valery Aliev published over 250 articles and books and received 28 invention patents. His most recent works include popular science titles: * ''Sea Launch: Space and Ocean''. Pero Print, Moscow, 2020; * ''The Earth's Ozone Layer''. co-au. Pavel Vinogradov. Pero Print, Moscow, 2022; * ''Cosmodromes of the World. Cosmos and Earth''. Pero Print, Moscow, 2024.

Awards and honours

* Honorary Professional Order of the Russian Federation * Badge of Honour for Exceptional Contribution to Space Programmes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aliev, Valery Russian scientists Soviet scientists Scientists from Kharkiv Living people 1941 births Russian engineers Soviet engineers Engineers from Kharkiv Ukrainian engineers Ukrainian engineers by century