Sergey Afanasyev (politician)
Sergey Afanasyev | |
---|---|
Сергей Афанасьев | |
Minister of General Machine Building | |
In office 2 October 1965 – 8 April 1983 | |
Premier | Alexei Kosygin Nikolai Tikhonov |
Succeeded by | Oleg Baklanov |
Personal details | |
Born | Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev August 30, 1918 Klin, Russian Republic |
Died | May 13, 2001 (aged 82) |
Political party | CPSU (1943–1991) |
Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev (
Early life and career
Sergey Afanasyev was born in the city of
In the late 1950s, Sergey Afanasyev worked in top management positions in Leningrad, and in the early 1960s in Moscow as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
Service as Minister
After his appointment in March 1965 as head of the newly created Ministry of General Machine Building, a post he occupied until 1983, Sergey Afanasyev had to build up the new Ministry from zero, uniting numerous defence plants, scientific labs, engineering facilities and famous constructors of space and military rockets under one roof. The new industry under Afanasyev's control was a secret formation, and was never publicly acknowledged until the late 1980s. In private circles he was referred to as “the world’s first Space Minister”.
Sergey Afanasyev's Ministry not only took part in developing
Sergey Afanasyev was also involved in creating spacecraft for Soviet
Oddly enough, just like many elements of the
A skilled manager, Sergey Afanasyev often balanced the "warring factions" - the different opinions and approaches voiced by academics and rocket engineers such as
During his long career, Sergey Afanasyev dealt directly with top Soviet leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko, Yuri Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev, discussing with them and getting funding for both space and defence programmes and projects. He was also a close friend of Boris Yeltsin, who he knew since Yeltsin was the head of the Yekaterinburg regional Communist Party Committee. Afanasyev was elected as deputy of the Congress of Peoples Deputies from the Yekaterinburg region.
Sergey Afanasyev was one of the few people who refused to take orders from the feared Soviet police chief
After a reshuffle in the early 1980, Sergey Afanasyev was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Heavy and Transport Machinery, where he worked from 1983 to 1987.
Death
From 1988 until his death he was the Senior Science Consultant of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia.
Sergey Afanasyev is buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Convent.
External links
Honours and awards
- Hero of Socialist Labour, twice (14 February 1975, 29 August 1978)
- Seven Orders of Lenin (1958; 17 June 1961; 26 July 1966; 29 August 1968; 25 October 1971; 14 February 1975; 29 August 1978)
- Order of the October Revolution (5 November 1982)
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice (1957; 30 August 1983)
- Order of the Red Star (1945)
- Lenin Prize (1973)
- Stalin Prize, 2nd class (1952)
- USSR State Prize (1977)
- Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class
- Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
- Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Jubilee Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Medal "Veteran of Labour"
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"
- Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class
References
- "Roads to Space" published by "Progress" in 1992, in Russian.
- Afanasyev, Sergei
Further reading
- J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", ISBN 5-02-000822-2;
- "Rockets and people" – ISBN 5-217-02942-0(in Russian)
- "Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts - A.I. Ostashev, Korolyov, 2001.[1];
- "Baikonur. Korolev. Yangel." - M. I. Kuznetsk, ISBN 5-89981-117-X;
- "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., ISBN 978-966-136-169-9
- S. P. Korolev. Encyclopedia of life and creativity" - edited by C. A. Lopota, ISBN 978-5-906674-04-3