The Birth of Russian Rocket and Space Industry

Abstract

. This article considers the period of the birth of the space industry in the Soviet Union prior to the adoption in May 1946 of the USSR Council of Ministers Resolution “Issues of missile weapons” which is considered to be the beginning of its history. It gives little-known information about the joint Anglo-American-Soviet military-technical expedition to Poland during the fighting to search for the fallen German V-2 rockets. The structure of the search and the export of samples of missile technology, technical documentation and rocket-specialists from Germany to the Soviet Union is described. Investigated in detail is the process of forming of the People’s Commissariat, which should be entrusted with the production of missile weapons.