Sergei Korolev

**Sergei Pavlovich Korolev** was the head aerospace and rocket engineer for the Soviet Space Program. He was the mastermind behind the Soviet rocket programs, leading the Soviet Union to beat the United States in many steps of the Space Race and finally in the Race to the Moon by first landing a man on the lunar surface. Korolev was involved in the development of the world's first intercontinental rocket, R-7 SemyorkaW, and the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1W, as well as in launching the dogs LaikaW, Belka and StrelkaW, and subsequently the first human being, Yuri GagarinW, into space.

## History

### Early life

During the Great PurgeW, Joseph Stalin'sW campaign to solidify his power over the party and the state from 1936-1938, Korolev was arrested in 1938 after false charges extracted from other arrested engineers, and subsequently tortured in the LubyankaW prison to extract a confession. After his forced confession, he was charged with 10 years compulsory labor in a GulagW. Korolev stayed imprisoned for almost 6 years, including a few months in a SibirainW Gulag, where he almost starved to death.

After repeated interventions from his mother and some prominent Soviet engineers, he was finally released and became a recognized rocket designer and a key figure in the development of the Soviet intercontinental ballistic missileW program. He later directed the Soviet Space Program and became the mastermind in Soviet space and Moon programs, being significantly involved in the success on the first manned Moon landing by the Soviets in 1969. However, his name remained unknown to the public, only be referred to as *"Glavny Konstruktor"* (Chief Designer).
(*See also the Behind the scenes section.*)

### 1983

Korolev visited Danielle Poole in the room she had been locked-in when she was in Star City in preparation of the Apollo-Soyuz mission. He brought Vodka and a sausage and started talking with her. He explained to her, that the words scratched into the room's door were actually the names of the cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Valentina TereshkovaW, Alexei Leonov, and Anastasia Belikova, much to the surprise of Danielle. Korelev told her, that when she would finally leave that room, she should do it with her head up. He left the room, leaving the Vodka, the sausage and his knife on the table. Danielle took the knife, and when she later could leave the room, her name was also scratched in the door, right below those of the famous cosmonauts.

## Gallery

Sergei Korolev visiting Danielle Poole in her roomKorolev in Danielle Poole's roomKorolev & PooleKorolev & Poole
The names on the doorThe names on the door, including Danielle's
## Behind the scenes

In the real timeline, Sergei Korolev died while undergoing surgery on January 14, 1966.

His survival in the *For All Mankind*-timeline allowed for the possibility of the Soviet Moon program securing the necessary funding to better test the N-1 rocket. If conditions are just right, though unlikely, the door for a potential Soviet Moon landing has now been left open. Korolev's survival in 1966 is the Point of Divergence (PoD) where the real and the show's timeline start drifting apart.

Korolev's name stayed unknown to the public until his death. Only following his death in 1966 was his identity revealed and he received the appropriate public recognition as the driving force and "father" behind Soviet accomplishments in space exploration. Years and even decades later, many astronomical features were named after Korolev, like craters on the Moon and on Mars and also an asteroid, 1855 KorolyovW. In 1996, the city of Kaliningrad, well known as the cradle of Soviet and Russian space exploration, was renamed to KorolyovW in commemoration of Sergei Korolev by Boris YeltsinW.

## References

1. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 2, Episode 7: "Don't Be Cruel"
2. ↑   collider.com: Ronald D. Moore interview (April 2021) *(Archived 2022-10-18)*