On December 12, Sergiy Korolyov was born. He was a rocket engineer who launched the first satellite into space, the first astronaut, and a spacecraft designer. At the beginning of his career, Sergiy Korolyov studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute for two years.
Korolyov has contributed to astronautics. It was he who assisted in entering space to the first crew and the first animal. With his help, the first radio communication between the two manned ships took place. He also supervised several geophysical and ballistic missiles, implemented spacecraft flights. For the first time in history, piloted missions began and, in particular, the launch of the first human being, Yuri Gagarin, into space.
Korolyov was also working on the “Luna” programs for missions to the Moon. He developed artificial satellites “Electron”, “Lightning-1” and the Soyuz spacecraft. Towards the latter part of Korolyov's life, he worked on projects for reaching the planets - Mars and Venus.
Modern scientists and engineers study and work according to the methods and research of a genius Ukrainian scientist. Korolyov was known to society as “Professor K. Sergeyev”. Even some of the cosmonauts who worked with him were unaware of his last name; he only went by Chief Designer. Only following his death in 1966, his identity revealed. As a result, Korolyov received the appropriate public recognition as the driving force behind Soviet accomplishments in space exploration.
All the unprecedented breakthroughs in space exploration changing the world today would be impossible without the achievements of this pioneer of Ukrainian space engineering. His achievement compared with the contribution of Einstein in physics.
In Ukraine, to immortalize the memory of the legendary designer the memorial house-museum (the Korolyov Memorial Astronautical Museum) was opened in Zhytomyr. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute also honored the memory of the scientist. The monument to the engineer on Museum Square forever preserves the memory of the time spent by Sergiy Pavlovich Korolyov in the walls of our University.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is proud of its outstanding student and will never forget him. Today our students follow his example every day - in their passionate service to their cause, unlimited imagination, and tireless work.