Stalin's Rocket Designers' Leap into Space
The Technical Intelligentsia Faces the Thaw
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3924736 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Slava Gerovitch (0000-0002-1639-4548, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 189-209 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Osiris (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0369-7827 • E-ISSN: 1933-8287 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/591874 |
| OpenAlex | W2094842536 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 8 |
This article explores the impact of the professional culture of rocket engineering in Stalin’s Soviet Union on the engineering and organizational practices of the space program during the Khrushchev era. The Stalinist legacy and the dual military / civilian character of rocket engineers’ work profoundly affected the identity of this elite part of Soviet technical intelligentsia. Focusing on such notions as control, authority, and responsibility, this article examines the role of engineering culture in shaping the Soviet approach to the automation of piloted spacecraft control. Through patronage and networking, rocket engineers were able to overcome the inefficiency of Soviet industrial management and to advance their agenda of space exploration
Aeronautics · Art · Elite · Intelligentsia · Management · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soviet union · Viewpoints · Visual arts · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · Engineering · Law · Philosophy, History, and Historiography · Soviet and Russian History
| Citations per year | 0.46 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |