The name of Sergey Alexandrovich Afanasyev can be safely put on a par with such outstanding personalities as Gagarin and Korolev. In the development of the space industry of the USSR, his merits are no less.
Biography
Sergey Afanasyev was born in the city with the funny name Klin on August 30, 1918 in the family of an employee. After graduating from high school, he enters the MVTU im. Bauman. He graduated with honors from the specialty "metal-cutting machines", despite the fact that he had to combine his studies with work at the Moscow Automobile Plant named after Stalin.
After graduation, a young specialist is sent to an artillery factory. With the outbreak of hostilities, in 1941 Sergey Afanasyev went to Perm, along with the evacuated plant.
Afanasyev had a desire to go to the front, but the leadership did not approve of this, and he remained at the factory.
At the plant, Sergey Afanasyev has come a long way from the master to the deputy chief engineer.
Space minister
Thanks to his perseverance, dedication, initiative, Sergey Alexandrovich held responsible posts. From 1946 to 1957 - at the Ministry of Arms, from 1957 to 1961 - at the Leningrad Economic Council. In 1961 he became deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federal Republic and held this position until 1965.
On March 2, 1965, the Ministry of General Engineering was organized, to which the Rocket and Space Industry of the country was subordinate. Afanasyev Sergey Alexandrovich headed this ministry in a very difficult time. Tensions with the United States of America, which were 10 times superior to the USSR in nuclear missile forces, were very high. There was a high probability of a global nuclear war.
Despite all the difficulties, Sergey Afanasyev was able to achieve great success in the work of the Ministry of General Engineering. He achieved the unification in this industry of all enterprises involved in the work, so that the General Ministry could solve problems at any stage of production.
Research, serial production and testing were all under the direct control of the ministry.
In addition to the super-tasks of the space-rocket complex, it was necessary to control the work of other enterprises, such as the refrigerator factory (in Krasnoyarsk), televisions (in Kharkov), and so on. Difficulties in management were also added by the scattered infrastructure of the ministry throughout the Soviet Union, right up to the Far East. But Sergey Afanasyev successfully coped with this.
For special merits
Thanks to the clearly structured work of the department, the production volumes of space and nuclear missile systems made it possible to achieve parity of forces in the world by 1980. So thanks to Sergey Alexandrovich, the Ministry of General Engineering adequately coped with the most important task assigned to them.
Another of the main merits of Sergei Afanasyev was the development of long-term orbital stations. The well-known Mir orbital station was modeled after the Salyut station, which was not created for peaceful purposes at all.
Almost twenty years of experience as a "space" Minister Afanasyev ended in 1983. Only then in the USSR they announced the complete cessation of work on space weapons, being absolutely confident in the full parity of potentials.
From 1983 to 1987, he headed the Ministry of Transport and Heavy Engineering, and from 1988, until the last days, he was a consultant to the Ministry of Defense.
For special merits, Sergey A. Afanasyev was awarded many awards: Lenin Prize laureate, twice State Prize of the Soviet Union, Chevalier of the seven Orders of Lenin, Honored Machine Builder of the USSR, awarded the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the October Revolution, many medals, etc.
To remember
Sergey Alexandrovich lived a long and interesting life. He was a very responsible and decent person, had a high organizational ability, always came to the rescue of people who found themselves in a difficult life situation and devotedly loved his homeland.
Sergey Afanasyev died in 2001 on May 13. His grave is located at the Novodevichy cemetery.
In the city of Klin, in the Minister’s homeland, a square was named in his honor and a monument was erected. The museum of local lore contains materials about him.
By the date of the 90th birthday, a commemorative meeting was organized in Moscow and a memorial tablet was opened on the house in which Afanasyev lived. A book has been published and a jubilee medal has been issued .