Our Partner, Khrunichev, Honors the 70th Birthday of its
First General Director, Anatoly Kiselev
This article is derived from
http://www.khrunichev.ru/khrunichev/live/full_news.asp?id=23240
ILS partner Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (KhSC) celebrated the 70th birthday of its first General Director, Anatoly I. Kiselev, on April 29. He led the space center from 1994 to 2001.
In 1956, at the age of 18, Kiselev started working at the aviation center in Filyah N 23. The center was the first to produce soviet aviation equipment. He became accustomed to working 16 to 18 hours a day, so when, in the 1960s, he was asked to become deputy director of the head plant, he was already acclimated to that work lifestyle.
In 1975, he was given a unique opportunity to be the head of what was then the Khrunichev Machine-Building Plant. The plant was on the verge of shutting down, more than 70 percent of the equipment was considered obsolete and it was up to Kiselev to turn everything around. He developed a 10-year-plan that rejuvenated the plant and space technology production.
A new entity, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, was formed in 1993, when President Boris Yeltsin combined the Khrunichev Machine-Building Plant with the Salyut Design Bureau. The design bureau was solely responsible for designing the space technology that Khrunichev then produced. In 1994, Yeltsin named Kiselev general director of the new organization, which has gone on to become one of the pillars of the Russian space industry. With Kiselev’s help, KhSC formed the partnership that is now known as International Launch Services.
Kiselev was instrumental in the renovations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the Proton vehicle is launched. After seven years as General Director, Kiselev retired in 2001.
