Khrushchev's son and Chelomei's guidance-system engineer
During the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, Khrushchev tried to watch the historic moment through a telescope from Ukraine — with a KGB officer at his side.
Soviet rocket engineer and computer scientist. The son of Nikita Khrushchev, he developed guidance systems for cruise missiles and the Proton space booster at Vladimir Chelomei's OKB-52 design bureau, contributing to submarine-launched missiles, military spacecraft, Moon vehicles, and the Proton booster. At age 28 he was named a Hero of Socialist Labor and awarded the Order of Lenin in 1963. He later served as first deputy director of the Control Computer Institute (INEUM), and after moving to the United States in 1991 taught Cold War history and the Soviet space program at Brown University's Watson Institute while publishing several books on his father's era.
Career Timeline
- 1958Graduated Moscow Power Engineering Institute; joined OKB-52 (Chelomei design bureau)
- 1958–1968OKB-52 engineer → deputy department chief — guidance systems for cruise missiles, military spacecraft, Moon vehicles, Proton booster
- 1959Awarded Lenin Prize
- 1963–1964Leading constructor and deputy head of OKB-52
- 1963Hero of Socialist Labor and Order of Lenin
- 1968–1991Control Computer Institute (INEUM) — section head → first deputy director
- 1991–2020Moved to USA; Senior Fellow and professor, Watson Institute, Brown University