The Russian space program and aerospace industry suffered a major loss Tuesday, February 15 with the death of one of the country's chief rocket designers, Vladimir Utkin. He died of natural causes after a lengthy illness.

A brilliant engineer whose projects buttressed the Cold War, Utkin was the chief designer of the Soviet 15A16, 15A18, 15A18-M missiles, code-named Satan, as well as the 15Zh61 missile. In the West, Utkin is identified most closely with creating the former Soviet Union's most destructive, long-range weapons -- the Soviet/Russian SS 18 liquid fuel and SS 24 solid fuel missiles.

"I am happy that I became a rocket designer and managed to resist a temptation to work in the food industry, which was really strong after my starving life during the war."
     

Born on October 17, 1923 into a large peasant family in Ryazan region in Central Russia, Utkin's early childhood was spent working as a farmer.

While still a boy, he became very interested in aviation. Following his graduation from high school, he wanted to pursue aircraft design. His plans, however, were put on hold because of the World War 2. He served in the Soviet army as a communications officer. He was honored with two Red Star orders, one of the highest military awards in the Soviet Army.

In 1945 he entered the Leningrad Institute for Military Mechanics. After graduation from this Institute, Utkin was assigned to NII 4, a scientific-research institute of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, located in the city of Bolshevo, just outside of Moscow. However, at that time Utkin did not feel like doing a purely scientific work. He wanted to be a practitioner.

For this reason he went to Dnepropetrovsk, a city in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, to join Mikhail Yanguel’s special design bureau, N 586, which was known as Yuzhnoye, or the Southern Bureau.

This bureau was put in charge of the mass production of the R 2 ballistic missile which was being developed by the leading Soviet rocket designer, Sergey Korolev who also designed the Soyuz booster that put the first satellite, and the first man into space.

In 1961, Utkin became Mikhail Yanguel’s first deputy. After Yanguel’s death in 1971, he became the bureau’s director and remained so for 19 years. Utkin’s deputy from 1982 through 1986 was Leonid Kuchma, currently the president of Ukraine. Kuchma may attend Utkin’s funeral scheduled to take place in Moscow.

In 1990, Utkin became a Director of TsNIIMash (Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building), the leading design and management institute of the Russian space industry. He held this position until his death.

"I am happy that I became a rocket designer and managed to resist a temptation to work in the food industry, which was really strong after my starving life during the war," Utkin said in a recent interview with the Russian Kommersant newspaper. "I am happy that I worked in Dnepropetrovsk for nearly 40 years."

"He was a talented scientist, a wonderful manager, and had a very strong appeal. His arguments could convince anybody," said Stanislav Konyukhov, the current Chief Designer at Yuzhnoye. "He was also a strong supporter of the development of Russian-Ukrainian relations. His death is a big loss for Ukraine."

Mr. Utkin’s contribution to the civil space program is at least as important as to the military one. He was a designer of the Tsiklon (Cyclone) and Zenit (Zenith) launch vehicles, and un-piloted spacecraft, including Okean (Ocean), a research satellite.

The engineer played a very important role in the promotion of U.S.-Russian cooperation in space.

Utkin became the Russian counterpart of a former U.S. astronaut -- Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), who was then a chairman of the NASA Advisory Council of the Task Force on the Shuttle-Mir Rendezvous and Docking Missions, as well as the Task Force on International Space Station Operational Readiness.

He was a chair of Russia’s Advisory Expert Council (AEC) which conducted joint assessments of the safety of Shuttle-Mir missions with the Stafford Council. Their joint term was unofficially called the "Stafford-Utkin commission."

"The meetings that I…conducted with Utkin’s team and the other Russian organizations are tangible examples of the progress the United States has made in its space relationship with Russia," Stafford said during his testimony before the House of Representatives Science Committee on May 6, 1998.

One major achievements of the "Stafford-Utkin commission" was the role it played in convincing NASA to continue Shuttle-Mir missions after an on-board fire on the station, then its collision with a Progress cargo ship, gave rise to doubts on the U.S. side regarding the need and safety of further joint missions.

"The Russians were not familiar with the concept of an external, expert advisory panel and could not understand why such a thing would be necessary," Stafford told the Committee. "Here, I must give a lot of credit to my counterpart…Vladimir Federovich Utkin. Once the AEC was established and began to conduct its assessments, the Russian side began to see the positive role that such an advisory committee could play in this kind of technologically complex program."

Utkin's funeral took place Friday, February 18 at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow. A widower, Utkin is survived by a daughter and son.