Kerim Kerimov (1917–2003)
Born 1917 CE, died 2003 CE.
Lieutenant General Kerim Abbasali oghlu Kerimov (Azerbaijani: Kərim Abbasəli oğlu Kərimov, Russian: Керим Аббас-Алиевич Керимов; November 14, 1917 – March 29, 2003) was a Soviet and Russian engineer of Azerbaijani ethnicity and a general in the Soviet Army, who is regarded as one of the key scientists and founders in the Soviet Union's space program, and for many years a central figure in the Soviet space program. Despite his prominent role, his identity was kept a secret from the public for most of his career. He was part of the Sputnik 1 team in 1957. As a representative of the Strategic Rocket Forces, he was a member of the State Commission on the Vostok programme, which led to the Vostok 1 flight. In the mid-1960s he was promoted to a leadership role within the space program and oversaw the successful space docking of Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 in 1967. Kerimov served as a project manager for the Salyut series space stations in the 1970s and served as a consultant to the Mir project later in his career.
Text from the Wikipedia article Kerim_Kerimov, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.