When was Valentin Glushko born and where?
Valentin Glushko was born on the 2nd of September 1908 in Odesa to a Ukrainian Cossack father and a Russian peasant mother.
Questions about Valentin Glushko
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What happened to Valentin Glushko during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge?
On the 23rd of March 1938, Valentin Glushko became caught up in Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and was rounded up by the NKVD to be placed in Butyrka prison. By the 15th of August 1939, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment yet put to work on various aircraft projects alongside other arrested scientists.
Why did Valentin Glushko oppose Sergei Korolev's choice of rocket fuel?
Sergei Korolev was an outspoken opponent of hypergolic propellants due to their toxicity often citing the 1960 Nedelin catastrophe as evidence of danger posed by them. Valentin Glushko argued that LH2 was completely impractical as a rocket fuel while advocating for Vladimir Chelomei's UR-700 and UR-900 with nuclear-powered upper stages.
When did Valentin Glushko take control of the Soviet space program after World War II?
In 1946, Valentin Glushko became the chief designer of his own bureau known as OKB 456 which remained under his leadership until 1974. In 1974 following six successful American Moon landings, premier Leonid Brezhnev decided to cancel the troubled Soviet program to send a man to the Moon and consolidated the entire Soviet space program under Valentin Glushko later named NPO Energia.
What engine family resulted from Valentin Glushko's work on the Energia vehicle?
RD-170 powered strap-on boosters designed for Energia became basis for Zenit booster family which began flying in 1985. The RD-170 proved harder to work out than the RD-120 engine used for the Energia core stage developed quickly with little difficulty.