The OKB-154 Chief Designer whose third-stage engines pushed Luna and Gagarin into space
Winter 1941, a grain elevator in Berdsk. Exhausted workers digging foundations by night suddenly heard an orchestra. Kosberg's voice rang out: "Song helps us build and live!"
Born the son of a Jewish blacksmith in Slutsk, he worked his way through night school to the Moscow Aviation Institute. During the war his direct-injection systems gave the La-5 and La-7 fighters the climb rate and agility to dominate German aircraft, earning him the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War. After the war he moved OKB-154 (now KB Khimavtomatiki) to Voronezh and pivoted to liquid rocketry; nine months after meeting Korolev in 1958, his bureau delivered the RD-0105, the world's first engine ignited in space, as the third stage that achieved escape velocity for Luna 1, 2, and 3. His RD-0109 then powered the Vostok upper stage that carried Gagarin into orbit, and his design bureau became the sole supplier of upper-stage engines for the entire R-7, Soyuz, and Proton launcher families.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1931Joined CIAM; researched direct fuel-injection systems
- 1940Deputy Chief Designer of Plant No. 33 OKB, head of direct-injection design bureau
- 1941–46Chief Designer, OKB-154 (Berdsk): NV-3U direct-injection unit for ASh-82FN engine on La-5, La-7, Tu-2
- 1946–54OKB-154 relocated to Voronezh; transition to turbojet fuel systems and liquid rocket engines
- 1958–59RD-0105 (9 months): third-stage engine for Luna 1, 2, 3; first engine ignited in space
- 1960Lenin Prize; Doctor of Technical Sciences
- 1961RD-0109: Vostok third stage, Gagarin orbital insertion. Hero of Socialist Labor
- 1962–65Led upper-stage engine development for Soyuz, Molniya, and Proton launchers
Related historical events
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarWartime aircraft-engine developerDuring the war, he developed direct-injection systems that improved the La-5 and La-7’s climb rate and agility.
- 1957–1965The Soviet Space ProgramChief designer of upper-stage enginesAs Chief Designer of OKB-154 (now KB Khimavtomatiki), he developed the RD-0105 (which achieved escape velocity for Luna 1, 2, and 3) and the RD-0109, which inserted Gagarin's Vostok into orbit, each in nine months. After his first meeting with Korolev in February 1958, his bureau became the sole supplier of upper-stage engines for the R-7, Soyuz, and Proton launcher families.
Wartime aircraft-engine work and postwar space launchers
From 1941 to 1965, Kosberg led a design bureau whose work extended from wartime aircraft-engine development to engines for postwar space launchers. After the bureau was evacuated to Berdsk, its team developed a direct-fuel-injection unit for the engine used in the La-5 fighter and brought it into series production. Later, the bureau in Voronezh developed and tested engines for the Luna program, automated Venus and Mars probes, the crewed Voskhod and Soyuz spacecraft, and Progress cargo ships. Among these, the RD-0105 third-stage engine supplied the speed needed for the Luna missions to reach the Moon, while the RD-0109 helped place the Vostok spacecraft in orbit on 12 April 1961. This trajectory illustrates the bureau's shift from aircraft-engine equipment to rocket engines for spaceflight.