Born December 30, 1906 (Zhitomir, Ukraine)

Died January 14, 1966 (Moscow, Russia)

Russian engineer

During the 1950s and 1960s the former Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in a space race. This competition for superiority in space exploration was part of the Cold War (1945–91), which resulted from political differences that arose between the two superpowers after World War II (1939–45). The Cold War also pitted the Soviet Union and United States against one another in an arms race to gain military domination through advanced weapons technology. In 1957 the Soviets scored a stunning victory by launching Sputnik 1, the first artificial space satellite (an object that orbits in space). Realizing that the Soviet Union was now ahead in the space race, the United States immediately responded by integrating U.S. space research agencies into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and establishing an astronaut training program. Then, in 1961, Soviet cosmonaut...