RNII 83
see also OKB-1
Scott, David 303–5
Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan 131, 138
Sergeev, Prof. K. (Korolev’s pseudonym) 176, 181, 252–4
Serov, Col. Gen. Ivan Aleksandrovich 65–6, 98–9, 101, 114, 117–18, 122, 123
Shepard, Alan 196, 198–9, 220–21, 308–9, 323
chief of Astronaut Office 330
chosen to be first American in space 224, 227, 232, 248
space flight 248–50
Shmargun, Lt 67–8, 70, 71
Siddiqi, Asif 79
Simpkinson, Scott 199–200
Slayton, Deke 249, 308, 330
SMERSH 67, 70–71
Society for Space Travel 9
Sokolov, Gen. 94
solar power 294, 311–12
Sonthofen, Bavaria 39, 41
Soviet Academy of Sciences 201, 257
Soviet Union xii
agriculture 82, 84, 275
air force 202
espionage 132
falls behind in space race 274, 293, 319–20, 326, 327, 344
German scientists in 100–3, 104, 118, 122, 132
Gulag ix, x, 76, 78, 79–80, 84–6
intelligence services 19–20, 65, 72
interest in V-2 19–23, 59, 61–2, 65–76, 92, 94–6, 98, 100, 102–3
manned space programme 201, 212–15, 233–47
and moon race 257, 259, 289, 322, 332, 334, 344
navy 186
nuclear programme xi, 72, 97, 98, 107
nuclear weapons 123, 125, 131, 138, 261
post-war 21, 72, 97, 102, 114, 115, 122
satellites 144, 151, 155–8, 162–71, 183
secrecy 228, 229
space secondary to defence 114, 124–6, 141, 258, 261, 270
space programme 181–2, 188, 206, 259
Stalin’s purges x, 23, 66, 78, 83–4, 86
superiority in space 168, 171, 174, 183–4, 187, 284, 285
war reparations 101
World War II 3, 6, 13, 25, 72, 210–11
Soyuz programme 258–9, 279, 306, 307, 310
lack of priority 280, 293
model displayed 294
official approval 289
Soyuz 1 crash 310–14
Soyuz 11 tragedy 344
space docking and transfer of cosmonauts 327, 344
space capsules 182–3, 186–7, 265
Mercury 189, 192–3, 197–200
Vostok 193, 211–12
space probes 206, 215
see also lunar probes
space shuttles 344
space stations 4, 52, 133, 142, 146, 182, 258, 265–6
first orbital station 328
Mir 345
Salyut 344
space suits 134, 146, 182, 280, 285, 287
Space Task Group, NASA 189, 192, 199, 219, 227, 257
space walks 284, 286–7, 291, 303
Special Committee for Reactive Technology 114
Special Mission V-2 50
Sputnik programme xi, 158, 163–9, 183, 184
spying 132, 218, 259
satellites 142, 144, 152, 186, 193, 218
SS (Schutzstaffel) 6–7, 11, 29–35, 37–9, 42–3, 45
von Braun and 52–5, 342
Stalin, Josef x, 6, 49, 72, 82, 97
death 136–7, 141
and Korean War 131
Korolev and 85, 107–9
purges x, 23, 66, 78, 83–4, 108, 296
rocketry interests 19, 20, 21–3, 90, 98, 102, 108–9, 125–6
war reparations claim 101
Stalin, Svetlana, see Alliluyeva, S.
Star City 212, 217, 292, 294
Starck, SS Major 28, 37–8, 91
State Defence Committee, USSR 65, 213
Stauffenberg, Count Claus von 11
Staver, Major Robert 16–17, 19, 23, 34, 50, 55–60, 62, 90
Steinhoff, Dr Ernst 38–9
Stewart, Lt Charles 47
Stewart, Dr Homer 144
Suslov, M. A. 344
TASS 162, 214, 233–4, 242, 243
Technologies Capabilities Panel 144
Tereshkova, Valentina 276
Tessman, Bernhard 27–8, 47
Thiel, Dr Walter 10, 18
Thomson, Jerry 270, 273
Tikhonravov, Mikhail Klavdiyevich 133, 139, 281
and GIRD 82
joins Korolev’s design bureau 153, 166
Korolev’s friendship with 82, 126, 137
NII-4 team of 114
official disapproval of 126
rocket development 83, 114, 125, 139
satellite research 124–5, 135, 157
space capsule design 182–3, 186
space programme proposal 181, 188, 206
Vostok modifications 214
Time magazine 142–3, 176, 189, 197
Titov, Gherman 207, 212
Vostok 1 backup pilot 228, 231–2, 235, 237
Vostok 2 pilot 252–3, 260
Toftoy, Col. Holgar 17, 34–5, 50, 60, 90–91, 119, 142
Tokaty-Tokaev, Dr Gregory 277
Trichel, Col. Gervais 17, 34, 58
Truman, Harry S. 126
Tsander, Fridrikh 81–3, 114, 176–7
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin 82, 83, 124, 140, 166, 181, 205
Tukhachevsky, Marshal Mikhail 83, 84, 85
Tyura-Tam 147–8, 160, 170, 242, 259
see also Baikonur
U-2 spy planes 218, 273
Uhl, Matthias 19
Ulrich, Hans 100–101
United Nations 215
United States: arms race 218
Cold War 97, 131
defence budget 131–2
interest in V-2 16–17, 19, 34–5, 50, 55–62, 95, 106–7
lack of interest in space flight 106–7, 142–3
lunar probes 190
McCarthyism 132
manned flight programmes 187, 212, 224, 248–50
moon landing ambitions 250–51, 257
nuclear weapons xii, 72, 105, 107, 135, 136
rocketry 105, 132, 142, 150–51, 189–90, 264
satellites 143–4, 146–7, 150–51, 154–5, 158, 172–5, 183
war crimes investigations 342
US Air Force 111, 167, 190
Atlas rocket 146, 190, 198–9
satellite development 144–5, 146, 218
Thor-Able rocket 190
US Army 92, 132
Ballistic Missile Agency 158
Counter Intelligence Corps 46, 47
Ordnance Department 16–17, 34, 50, 57, 105
restrictions and budget cuts 155, 158, 171
satellite development 144–5, 150, 172–5
von Braun’s team in 104–6, 171, 201
in World War II 25, 28, 30–32, 41, 43, 46–7, 50
US Defense Department 144, 150, 171
US Navy: research bodies 142, 143
satellite development 144–6, 150, 155, 172–4
Vanguard rocket 146, 150, 155, 167, 172–4, 183, 189
US Senate Armed Services Preparedness Committee 171
US Special Forces 71
US War Department: Joint Chiefs of Staff 90
Usachev, Mikhail Alexandrovich 86
USSR, see Soviet Union
Ustinov, Dimitri 125, 186, 215, 263, 270, 282
Minister of Armaments 102, 117
and Yangel 185
Utochkin, Sergei 81
V-2 rocket: A-4 prototype 4–5, 7, 10, 12, 54
American interest in 16–17, 19, 34–5, 50, 55–62, 95
blueprints and documentation 7, 26, 27–8, 56–9, 69, 96
bombardment of London 13, 16–17, 18
design features 10, 21, 24, 71, 113
flaws 95
improved 97, 100, 103–4, 108
intelligence interest in 17–18
production of 12, 13–14, 19, 24, 30–36, 55
reassembled in USA 106, 111
research and testing 10–11
slave labour 31–5, 51, 55, 91, 112, 119, 341–3
Soviet interest in 19–23, 59, 61–2, 65–9
Soviet version 69–76, 90, 92, 94–6, 98, 100, 102–3, 108–9, 112, 116–18, 121
test launches 94, 98, 103, 106–7, 111, 116–18, 121
Van Allen, James 144, 172, 176
Vanguard rocket 146, 150, 155, 167, 172–4, 183, 189
Venus 182, 258
Vietnam War xi, 279, 282, 288, 315
Viking rocket 142, 146
Villa Frank, Bleicherode 25, 28, 68–9, 74
Vishnevsky, Dr Aleksandr 298
Volynov, Boris 328
von Braun, Baron Magnus 8, 9, 111
von Braun, Magnus Jr 8, 24, 39, 42, 45–7, 120, 143
von Braun, Maria (née Quistorp) 92, 111, 219
von Braun, Wernher ix–xii
Allied interest in 16, 19, 23, 35–6
in America 104, 106–7, 111
America as goal of 14, 28, 50–51, 61, 92
American citizenship 145–6
and Apollo 263–6, 268–70, 277, 309–10, 316–18, 323, 335, 339
arrested by Gestapo 54–5
biopic 220
death 341
early rocketry experiments 7–9
and fall of Germany 7, 14–16, 24, 26–9, 37–41, 45
good looks and charisma x, 4, 76, 143
Huntsville team of 132, 144–5, 150, 171, 175, 189, 201, 218–19, 222
investigated 120, 132–3, 145
meeting with Eisenhower 218–19
at Mittelwerk 35–6, 55, 119–21, 342–3
moon landing ambitions 134, 250–51
and NASA 189, 201
Nazi background ix, x–xi, 52–5, 75, 110, 111, 119–20, 145, 342–3
personal life 111
reputation of 219–20, 290, 342–3, 345
rocketry in Nazi Germany 4–7, 9–16, 24–6, 36
rocketry in US 132, 150–51, 154, 162, 189–90, 201, 218, 219, 222, 257, 264
and satellites 106, 114, 143–7, 150, 154,167, 172–6
Soviet plan to kidnap 72–5
space exploration vision 4, 12–13, 27, 51–2, 107, 133–5, 142–3, 189, 265, 341
star status x, 219–20
surrenders to Americans 47, 50–1, 58–62, 71, 90
television presenter 146
underfunding 158, 171
and war crimes 52–3, 112, 119–20, 342–3
at White House 176
writings 128, 133–5, 265
Voskhod 280, 281, 283–5, 293, 306–7, 311
Vostok programme 193, 211–15
animal test flights 213–14, 228–30, 233
cannibalized to make Voskhods 280, 285
capsule 211–12
delays 227–8
double flights 270–71, 276
simulators 212
unmanned test flight 213
Vostok 1 233–47
Vostok 2 252–3, 260
Warsaw Pact 131
Washington Post 302
White, Edward 291, 307–8
White Sands, New Mexico 17, 35, 95, 106, 111, 225
Wilson, Charles 155
Witzenhausen 73, 75, 90, 91
World War II x, 3–6, 11, 13–14, 25–6, 40–1, 44–5, 49, 72
Yakubovsky, Marshal 319
Yalta Conference 49, 50
Yangel, Mikhail Kuzmich
favoured by Khrushchev 185–6
promoted director of NII-88 135, 185
R-16 rocket designed by 215, 217
rival of Korolev 261–3, 275, 282
Yegorov, Boris 283
Yezhov, Nikolai 77, 86
Young, John 291
Zarubin, Vasily and Lisa 19
Zlotuckova, Antonina 113
Zond missions 322, 324
P.S.
Ideas, interviews & features …
About the Author
The Canvas Emerging
Louise Tucker talks to Deborah Cadbury
Like many children, Korolev and von Braun both wanted to work with rockets when they grew up. What did you dream of doing?
I think those fortunate enough to harness their childhood dreams and achieve them with outstanding success as adults do seem touched by a fate beyond the ordinary, although sometimes a high price is paid for this advantage. In my own childhood, little emphasis was put on pursuing a career and it was only when I reached university that I began to give this serious thought. I realised that I wanted to get involved in some way with stories, characters and plot – and became involved in creative writing. Then I discovered that the BBC ran a training course for documentary makers and suddenly doors started to open.
Was your family background an influence on your career in any way?
I had a very happy childhood and creativity lay at the heart of it. My father was always most content in his garden, seen against an expanse of lawn or among the apple trees or half hidden by the herbaceous bed. My mother loved painting and interior design and I can see her now, paintbrush in hand, listening to music, the vibrant world of the canvas emerging. We had a lot of fun as a family. I have an enduring image from my childhood of French doors flung wide open onto a summer garden with a profusion of colour and scents and the sound of music coming from somewhere. I think the richness of the experience has helped to give me reserves and resilience which might not have happened from a narrower environment.
As somebody who has combined two careers for many years, did you relate to the engineers struggling to achieve their goals?
Many of the characters I have written about, not just in Space Race, but also Seven Wonders and even Dinosaur Hunters, seem to be driven to the point of obsession, sometimes even to the point of death. I find this theme compelling and I think the truth is I really like a good flawed hero, someone who sets out to achieve the superhuman. It’s even better for me if their goal is not just a selfish ambition but something I can really believe in, something that would benefit everyone. And I like to know that it’s all true; that this really happened. The beauty about all this as a writer is that you don’t have to actually live through the nightmare of turning dreams into reality – you have a ringside seat on all the excitement from the comfort and safety of your study. Yes, I can definitely relate to their struggles – as I think anyone who has ever had a dream would.
* * *
‘Many of the characters I have written about seem to be driven to the point of obsession, sometimes even to the point of death. I find this theme compelling and I think the truth is I really like a flawed hero, someone who sets out to achieve the superhuman.’
* * *
What or who inspired you to write this book?
The characters themselves. I was amazed when I first learned of Korolev: a man who set out to reach for the stars, yet his remarkable successes were hidden from view. Here was the man behind the headlines that had caught my imagination as a child: the first satellite in space, the first man in space, the first blurry images of the moon itself. It seemed amazing that one man had been the driving force – whilst compelled to live in complete secrecy constantly shadowed by his KGB ‘minder’. There was a kind of justice in bringing him out of obscurity, letting him take a bow. I began to piece together the plot and realised he was in competition with a man he never met from another continent, who stood to beat him to every key goal. It was a highly unusual tale of rivalry, with two talented visionaries and two great superpowers locked in a symbolic race. To add to the intrigue, von Braun was a wonderfully complex character; there was evidence that cast him in a glamorous, heroic light and then equally compelling evidence that cast him as a monster. As I started to plot the characters, I realised this was a story I would write.
Britain courteously shared its information with the Americans only to lose out completely. How would space history have changed if the UK had been a little less polite and secured the blueprints and engineers for itself?
It was very entertaining while maki
ng the TV series of Space Race with American, Russian and German co-producing partners that each country was eager to point up the idea that they were the real winner of the race. Without von Braun would the Americans have had the rocket to take them to the moon? The Russians spurred every key step of the race, faltering only as the final goalpost was in sight, with the tragic early death of their charismatic leader. And the Americans, of course, did take that famous ‘giant leap for mankind’. The idea that this could have been a British giant leap, if only our intelligence teams had not been so gentlemanly in sharing all their records, is stretching things a bit – but still – nice thought…
How does producing a TV series affect the writing of the book and vice versa?
The book and the film are very different products and yet the work that is required can be handled in a way that complements both. This is particularly true of the research. A book requires exhaustive and searching enquiry and in 100,000 words it is usually possible to do justice to the complexity and subtleties of the story. I like to take the time to pore over the primary sources and see what the characters wrote in their own words and how they saw their predicament. It is important to find the characters’ own voices – and this invariably complements the film.
The drama documentary form brings its own discipline. Inevitably there are issues in working out how to turn complex history into a film of less than 5,000 words. This can be as basic as where do you start the story – and where end it? How many characters do we need and can we focus the action through just one lead? How much context do we need at each step to enable the audience to appreciate what is at stake for the characters? What’s great when working with scriptwriters and directors on a film is that you can brainstorm how to handle ‘flaws’ in the narrative from a storytelling point of view. I always enjoy the teamwork after the intensity of researching and writing alone and count myself lucky to be a part of both worlds.
Is it difficult to find the motivation to write when you have a full-time job as well?
Sometimes – but the biggest driver is the deadline. If you know the series is due for transmission in the autumn, the publisher has to have the text by April – and if you miss that deadline, you’ve blown it.
Space Race Page 43