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Dr. Boris E. Chertok is a former Soviet rocket engineer whose early work included designing the first Soviet aircraft with a rocket engine, and collaboration with the designer of the Katyusha rocket. During World War II, Chertok worked on developing Soviet heavy bombers and on rocket technology. In 1945, Dr. Chertok founded the Rabi Institute in which was appointed by Joseph Stalin to be the organization responsible for assimilating World War II German rocket technology. Chertok was assigned to Sergei Korolev's NII-88 institute in August 1946 and was named Deputy Chief Designer in 1956, a position he would hold with that bureau and its successors until his retirement in 1992. During the Cold War, Chertok worked on the control systems for the SS-6 Missile (R-7, Sapwood) and the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz spacecraft programs. In the 1990s, Chertok published his autobiography, Rockets and People. After leaving the reorganized Energia enterprise in 1992, Chertok worked remained active as a professor in Moscow.

Identifier

NASM.2009.0036

Creator

Chertok, Boris E.

Date

bulk 1945-1992

Provenance

Boris Chertok, Purchase, Purchased by NASM and Arthur M. Dula in 1997, transferred from the Space History Department to the Archives in 2009

Extent

3.15 Cubic feet ((7 boxes))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 51 of Boris E. Chertok's diaries, covering the years from 1945 to 1988. The diaries, all in Russian, are handwritten and are in small notebooks of various sizes and types. Some of the diaries have loose pages or loose covers and each diary has a paper cover note pasted to the outside of the notebook. The 1945 diary contains Chertok's notes on the examination of German rockets and sites in Germany. The collection also contains the envelopes, with notes in Russian, that the diaries came in. Finally, the collection contains a manuscript draft of Chertok's autobiography, Rockets and People, in Russian. The manuscript is largely handwritten, but contains some typewritten pages.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Citation

Boris E. Chertok Papers, Accession 2009-0036, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Astronautics
Vostok (manned satellite)
Rocketry
Rockets (Ordnance) -- Soviet Union
SS-6 Missile (R-7, Sapwood)
Soyuz Program (Russia)

Type

Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries