View source for Sergey Afanasyev (politician)

{{Short description|Soviet defence engineer and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Sergey Afanasyev
| image               = Sergey afanasiev.jpg
| caption             = Afanasyev in 1998
| order               = [[Ministry of General Machine Building (Soviet Union)|Minister of General Machine Building]]
| term_start          = 2 October 1965
| term_end            = 8 April 1983
| premier             = [[Alexei Kosygin]]<br>[[Nikolai Tikhonov]]
| successor           = [[Oleg Baklanov]]
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]] (1943–1991)
| birth_name          = Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev
| birth_date          = August 30, 1918
| birth_place         = [[Klin, Klinsky District, Moscow Oblast|Klin]], [[RSFSR]]
| death_date          = May 13, 2001 (aged 82)
| native_name_lang    = ru
| native_name         = {{nobold|Сергей Афанасьев}}
}}
'''Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev''' ({{langx|ru|Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Афана́сьев}}; 30 August 1918 – 13 May 2001) was a Russian engineer and later politician who was the leading figure in the Soviet Union's missile and [[Soviet space program|space program]]. He was the [[Ministry of General Machine Building (Soviet Union)|Minister of General Machine Building]] (1965–1983).
==Early life and career==
Sergey Afanasyev was born in the city of [[Klin, Klinsky District, Moscow Oblast|Klin]] in the [[Moscow region]]. He graduated from the Bauman [[Moscow State Technical University]] in 1941, and was a member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (since 1943). During [[World War II]], he worked as an engineer at an artillery factory in Perm, learning armor design. He became the protégé of [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence]] [[Dmitry Ustinov]] and from 1946 worked in the Ministry of Defence Industries.
In the late 1950s, Sergey Afanasyev worked in top management positions in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], and in the early 1960s in Moscow as Deputy Chairman of the [[Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]].
==Service as Minister==
After his appointment in March 1965 as head of the newly created [[Ministry of General Machine Building]], a post he occupied until 1983, Sergey Afanasyev had to build up the new Ministry from zero, uniting numerous defence plants, scientific labs, engineering facilities and famous constructors of space and military rockets under one roof. The new industry under Afanasyev's control was a secret formation, and was never publicly acknowledged until the late 1980s. In private circles he was referred to as “the world’s first Space Minister”.
Sergey Afanasyev's Ministry not only took part in developing [[Soviet space programme|his country's pioneering space programme]] but was a key player in the [[nuclear arms race]] between the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]]. In the mid-1960s the [[nuclear arsenal of the USA]] was larger than the USSR had. But as the [[Cold War]] dragged on, Afanasyev's Ministry managed to sufficiently increase and almost match the number of nuclear [[missile]]s and [[warhead]]s its main rival had and thus reach a fragile balance of military might. Over 1400 [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s and some 1000 [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]]s were manufactured and later modernised by the Ministry, which was also responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the nuclear arsenal and its control functions. That is why Sergey Afanasyev once admitted that his worst [[nightmare]] for many years was that one of the nuclear missiles might self-explode or even be launched by mistake.
Sergey Afanasyev was also involved in creating spacecraft for Soviet [[cosmonaut]]s, orbital [[space station]]s, including the [[Mir]] station, the first Soviet space shuttle [[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran]], the [[Energia (rocket)|Energia]] rocket, and was a frequent visitor of the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]], attending the many launches. He worked together with the chief Soviet rocket engineer [[Sergey Korolyov]].
Oddly enough, just like many elements of the [[Soviet economy]], the Ministry of General Machine Building at its numerous plants spread from the western part of the USSR to the far east coast also produced TV sets, refrigerators and other home appliances.
A skilled manager, Sergey Afanasyev often balanced the "warring factions" - the different opinions and approaches voiced by academics and rocket engineers such as [[Vladimir Chelomei]] and [[Mikhail Yangel]], who competed in designing rocket engines, as well as the interests of different Ministries, including the [[Ministry of Defence (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Defence]], headed by Dmitriy Ustinov, and also the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party's Central Committee]]. Afanasyev also worked closely with [[Valentin Glushko]], one of the principal Soviet designers of spacecraft and rockets during the Soviet/American [[Space Race]].
During his long career, Sergey Afanasyev dealt directly with top Soviet leaders, including [[Leonid Brezhnev]], [[Konstantin Chernenko]], [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], discussing with them and getting funding for both space and defence programmes and projects. He was also a close friend of [[Boris Yeltsin]], who he knew since Yeltsin was the head of the [[Yekaterinburg]] regional Communist Party Committee. Afanasyev was elected as deputy of the [[Congress of Soviets|Congress of Peoples Deputies]] from the Yekaterinburg region.
Sergey Afanasyev was one of the few people who refused to take orders from the feared Soviet police chief [[Lavrentiy Beria]]. In the 1950s, Beria was pushing for a swift production of missiles and indicated his orders were to be carried out within several months. At a meeting in the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]], Sergey Afanasyev was the only engineer who voiced opposition to the plan, calling it unrealistic. Beria's first reaction was to arrest the young engineer, but he was later told that in that case the production would be delayed for over a year because Afanasyev was the only person on the ground knowledgeable enough to take charge.
After a reshuffle in the early 1980, Sergey Afanasyev was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Heavy and Transport Machinery, where he worked from 1983 to 1987.
==Death==
From 1988 until his death he was the Senior Science Consultant of the [[Energia (corporation)|S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia]].
Sergey Afanasyev is buried in Moscow's [[Novodevichy Convent]].
==External links==
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==Honours and awards==
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]], twice (14 February 1975, 29 August 1978)
* Seven [[Order of Lenin|Orders of Lenin]] (1958; 17 June 1961; 26 July 1966; 29 August 1968; 25 October 1971; 14 February 1975; 29 August 1978)
* [[Order of the October Revolution]] (5 November 1982)
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]], twice (1957; 30 August 1983)
* [[Order of the Red Star]] (1945)
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1973)
* [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]], 2nd class (1952)
* [[USSR State Prize]] (1977)
* [[Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"]], 3rd class
* [[Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"]]
* [[Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
* [[Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
* [[Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
* [[Jubilee Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
* [[Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
* [[Medal "Veteran of Labour"]]
* [[Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"]]
* [[Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"]]
* [[Order of Merit (Ukraine)]], 2nd class
==References==
*"Roads to Space" published by "Progress" in 1992, in Russian.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020612075507/http://www.astronautix.com/astros/afaergei.htm Afanasyev, Sergei]
== Further reading ==
* J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", [[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]], 1994, {{ISBN|5-02-000822-2}};
* [http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/chertok/kniga-1/01.html "Rockets and people"] – [[Boris Chertok|B. E. Chertok]], M: "mechanical engineering", 1999. {{ISBN|5-217-02942-0}} {{in lang|ru}}
* "Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts - [[Arkady Ostashev|A.I. Ostashev]], [[Korolyov, Moscow Oblast|Korolyov]], 2001.[http://cosmosravelin.narod.ru/r-space/bibliografia.html];
* "Baikonur. Korolev. Yangel." - M. I. Kuznetsk, [[Voronezh]]: IPF "Voronezh", 1997, {{ISBN|5-89981-117-X}};
* "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., [[Kyiv]], 2014., publishing house "Phoenix", {{ISBN|978-966-136-169-9}}
* S. P. Korolev. Encyclopedia of life and creativity" - edited by C. A. Lopota, [[S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia|RSC Energia. S. P. Korolev]], 2014 {{ISBN|978-5-906674-04-3}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Afanasyev, Sergey}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Klin]]
[[Category:Soviet space program personnel]]
[[Category:Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Sixth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities]]
[[Category:Seventh convocation members of the Soviet of the Union]]
[[Category:Eighth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union]]
[[Category:Ninth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union]]
[[Category:Tenth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union]]
[[Category:Eleventh convocation members of the Soviet of the Union]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Star]]
[[Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize]]
[[Category:People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet engineers]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]