History
"OKB-1", "TsKBEM", "NPO Energia", "S.P. Korolyov RSC Energia" and "Korolev design bureau" redirect here.The company was founded on 16 May 1946 and has been known successively as:
- Special Design Bureau number 1 of R&D Institute number 88 (Russian: ОКБ-1 НИИ-88 or OKB-1 of NII-88)
- TsKBEM (Central Design Bureau of Experimental Machine Building)
- NPO Energia
- S.P. Korolyov RSC Energia.
It is named after the first chief of its design bureau Sergei Korolyov (1946–1966). His successors as chief designers were: Vasiliy Mishin (1966–1974), Valentin Glushko (1974–1989), Yuriy Semenov (1989–2005), Nikolay Sevastyanov (2005–2007). Its current President and Chief designer is Vitaliy Lopota.
Korolev's design bureau was, beginning with the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 and the first manned spaceflight of Vostok 1, responsible for a major part of the Soviet space program. It was the main rival of OKB-52 (later known as TsKBM, then the design bureau of Vladimir Chelomei) during the Soviet manned lunar programs and the Soviet space station program. OKB-1 was among others responsible for the development of the manned Soyuz spacecraft and its Soyuz rocket, the N1 "Moon Shot" rocket, large parts of the Salyut space station program, the unmanned Progress resupply craft and designed the Energia rocket for the Buran space shuttle program. Since the early beginnings of Luna programme it designed many space probes, among others of the Venera, Zond and Mars program.
The company continues to dominate a large part of the Russian space program, and a considerable part of the World's space program, with its Soyuz rockets and spacecraft having become the only crewed spacecraft conducting regular flights and the exclusive crew transport vehicle for the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle retirement. As of 2012 this will remain unchanged until an crewed US spacecraft like the Orion or one the Commercial Crew Development spacecraft is ready to use for the ISS – with the Chinese Shenzhou program being the only other program in the World with planned semi-regular crewed spaceflights.
Read more about this topic: S.P. Korolev Rocket And Space Corporation Energia
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