Scientist Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev made a huge contribution to the development of space technology in Russia. This is one of the founders of the cosmonautics of our country, under the guidance and with whose direct participation no less than thirty types of space systems and complexes were developed. The academician owns over two hundred inventions and scientific works.
Biography
Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev was born on November 10, 1924 in the Ukrainian village of Barmashovo, Nikolaev region. In 1929, he and his parents moved to Dnepropetrovsk. At the age of fifteen he graduated from high school and decided to enter the Moscow Aviation Institute. In 1939 he submitted documents, but he was not accepted because of his young age.
A year later, Mikhail Reshetnev nevertheless entered the coveted university, but could not complete his studies, because after the start of the Great Patriotic War at the age of seventeen he joined the army as a volunteer. He completed aviation mechanics courses at the Serpukhov military school and served as a sergeant in the twenty-sixth reserve fighter regiment.
Returning from the war, Mikhail resumed his studies at the Aviation Institute and graduated with honors in 1950. The pre-diploma practice was conducted by the aircraft designer under the direction of M.K. Tikhonravov at the Research Institute-88. He wrote a diploma on missile topics.
The rise and flowering
In 1950-1959 Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev worked at OKB-1, having gone from an engineer to a leading designer and deputy chief designer. Its main task was to provide design support for serial production of R-11M missiles developed by OKB-1, which was mastered by the engineering plant in Krasnoyarsk.
In 1959, being deputy chief designer of OKB-1, Reshetnev simultaneously became the head of a branch of OKB-10, located in Krasnoyarsk-26 (now Zheleznogorsk).
In November 1962, the young design team accepted from OKB-586 a project for the development of a light class launch vehicle. When the enterprise, led by Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev, completed the creation of the Cosmos launch vehicle, he was 39 years old. In August 1964, with the help of Cosmos, the first OKB-10 satellites were launched into orbit.
Mature years
In 1967, OKB-10 became an independent design bureau, called the Design Bureau of Applied Mechanics, and Reshetnev became the general designer in it. The activities of KB PM were aimed at the development of information satellite systems for civilian and military purposes.
In the same year, Mikhail Fedorovich was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences for the creation of new technology. In 1975, he became a professor at the Department of Machine Design at the Institute of Space Technology, Krasnoyarsk (now Siberian State University named after Reshetnev). In 1976, the aircraft designer was elected a corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
From 1977 to the day of his death, Mikhail Fedorovich served as general director and general designer of the NPO of applied mechanics, which included the PM Design Bureau and the mechanical plant. In 1985, the scientist became a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1989, he was the head of the department of mechanics and control processes at KSU.
Academician Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev died in Zheleznogorsk on 01/26/1996 at the age of 71. Buried there.
Personal life
The aircraft designer was married to a woman named Lyudmila Georgievna. They had a daughter, Tamara. Also, Reshetnev has a grandson, named in his honor Michael. Close people spoke of the academician as a faithful husband, an attentive father, and a caring grandfather. After the death of Mikhail Fedorovich, his family moved to Moscow. It is known that the scientist’s grandson graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute.
During his life, Reshetnev tried to support people in distress: he sent for treatment and helped with housing. Once he ordered a helicopter and arranged with the military to find a man who was lost in the taiga. Another time, he arranged for transportation of a deceased colleague from a distant area and paid for a worthy funeral. According to the recollections of his subordinates, Mikhail Fedorovich was an unusually fair person, he stood up for his company and employees. But he didn’t give a descent - he could punish very severely, but he never broke into rudeness or screaming.
Achievements and rewards
Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev was an outstanding scientist and made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian cosmonautics. He also had a great influence on the creation of a scientific school in Siberia, uniting around him the most talented engineers and developers of space and rocket technology.
Under the leadership of Reshetnev, a magnetogravity automatic orientation system was created, which has an almost unlimited service life. She ensured the flight of spacecraft in the USSR and Russia. The academician comprehensively studied the physics of cosmic factors, which made it possible to develop methods for reliable protection of vehicles sent to orbit.
Mikhail Fedorovich made a significant practical and theoretical contribution to the kinematics of transformable structures, the creation of executive automation devices, and the mechanics of composite materials. Thanks to his work, new directions were opened in the field of special mechanical engineering, and navigation, geodesic and connected satellite systems were created.
Various spacecraft developed in the 1960-1990s. NGOs PM are still rightfully considered the most reliable in Russia.
During his life, Academician Reshetnev was awarded numerous prizes and awards. He was a Hero of Socialist Labor, was a laureate of the Lenin Prize and the State Prize of the Russian Federation. He was awarded the three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Third Degree "For Merit to the Fatherland", "Badge of Honor".
Memory
In 1998, the scientist was posthumously awarded a diploma and a medal from the American Institute of Astronautics for his contribution to the development and development of satellite telecommunications.
In 2000, the Center for Small Planets, located in Cambridge at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, named Reshetnev’s small planet No. 7046.
The name of Mikhail Fedorovich also bears the aerospace university in Krasnoyarsk; JSC Information Satellite Systems (formerly NPO PM); Lyceum No. 102, square and street in Zheleznogorsk; passenger aircraft IL-96.
In Zheleznogorsk, there is a museum where design developments, scientific papers, personal belongings and photos of Mikhail Reshetnev are stored. The NGO of Applied Mechanics, where the academician laid the foundations for the development of domestic cosmonautics sixty years ago, today presents the results of his work at all Russian and international aerospace salons and exhibitions. This suggests that the case of Mikhail Fedorovich is alive, and his students successfully use the inheritance that the scientist left them.