Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900–1974)
Born 1900 CE, died 1974 CE.
Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov (29 July 1900 – 3 March 1974) was a Soviet engineer who was a pioneer of spacecraft design and rocketry. Mikhail Tikhonravov was born in Vladimir, Russia. He attended the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy from 1922 to 1925, where he was exposed to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's ideas of spaceflight. After graduation he worked in several aircraft industries and was engaged in developing gliders. From 1931 he devoted himself to rocketry. In 1932, he joined Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD), as one of the four brigade leaders. His brigade built the GIRD-09 rocket, fueled by liquid oxygen and jellied gasoline, and launched on 17 August 1933. Tikhonravov became part of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) when GIRD and the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) merged in 1933. From 1938 Tikhonravov researched rocket engines with liquid fuel and developed rockets for the purpose of upper atmosphere research.
Text from the Wikipedia article Mikhail_Tikhonravov, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.