The defence-industry administrator who sent Gagarin into space
The day after his return, Gagarin handed Rudnev the 13 April 1961 issue of Pravda, inscribed: "To the supervisor from the performer. Gagarin."
Soviet administrator of the defence and space industries. An arms engineer from Tula, he directed an evacuated munitions plant during World War II, then rose through rocket-research institutes and defence-bureaucracy posts to become chairman of the State Committee for Defence Technology (GKOT) in 1958. As GKOT chairman he oversaw the early ICBM and satellite programs and chaired the State Commission that approved Yuri Gagarin's historic first human spaceflight on 12 April 1961. He then served as Deputy Premier for science-research coordination (1961–1965) before being appointed Minister of Instrument-Making, Means of Automation and Control Systems (1965–1980), a move into civilian industry that some colleagues read as a demotion. He remained in the post until his death, a key figure in the Soviet military-industrial complex.
Career Timeline
- 1935–1941Designer, design bureau chief, chief engineer at Tula Arms Plant
- 1941–1947Chief engineer, then director of Plant No. 314, Mednogorsk (evacuated Tula arms plant)
- 1947–1950Director of NII-61, rifle-cannon aviation armament research institute
- 1950–1952Director of NII-88 rocket research institute
- 1952–1953Deputy Minister of Armaments of the USSR
- 1953–1957Deputy Minister of Defence Industry of the USSR
- 1957–1958Deputy Chairman, State Committee for Defence Technology
- 1958–1961Chairman of GKOT, Minister of the USSR
- 1961–1965Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers; Chairman, State Committee for the Coordination of Scientific Research
- 1965–1980Minister of Instrument-Making, Means of Automation and Control Systems (Minpribor)