Leonid Alexandrovich Voskresenskiy

Leonid A. Voskresenskiy
Leonid Voskresenskiy at launch of Vostok 1, April 12, 1961
Born	(1913-06-14)June 14, 1913 Pavlovsky Posad, Russia
Died	December 14, 1965(1965-12-14) (aged 52) Moscow, Russia
Occupation	Soviet rocket scientist and engineer
Known for	Deputy Chief Designer of Soviet Space Program

Leonid Alexandrovich Voskresenskiy (Russian: Леонид Александрович Воскресенский, June 14, 1913 – December 14, 1965) was a Soviet rocket engineer and long-time associate of famed Chief Designer Sergei Korolev. He served as launch director for Sputnik and for the first manned space flight, Vostok 1. The lunar crater Voskresenskiy is named in his honor.

Voskresenskiy was born on June 14, 1913 in the town of Pavlovsky Posad. His mother was Catherine Veniaminovna Sokolov (1880-1956); his father, Alexander G. Voskresenskiy (1875-1950), was a priest at St. Nicholas Church in Pavlovsky Posad and later was the senior priest at the Church of St. John the Warrior in Moscow.

From 1929 to 1936 he worked as an electrician while also studying at Moscow Power Engineering Institute. In 1936 he was drafted into the army, where he served as an engineer.

In 1945, he was sent to Germany with a team that was trying to identify engineers and German rocket equipment, such as the A-4 and the V-2. In 1946, he led the Vystral group, which performed test flights of the V-2 rockets, at the Soviet missile institute in Nordhausen, Germany.

Voskresenskiy continued to head several rocket test programs until 1953, when he was appointed as a Deputy Chief Designer of the primary Soviet rocket design bureau, OKB-1, under Sergei Korolev. During his tenure at OKB-1, the bureau achieved several significant achievements in rocketry and space flight, such as the engine used for the first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7 Semyorka, the first spacecraft in orbit, Sputnik, and the first manned orbital space flight, Vostok 1.

In 1963, health issues led Voskresenskiy to become an instructor at the Moscow Aviation Institute. He also continued to serve as a consultant with OKB-1, as "acting head of department of scientific tests."