Before Sergei Pavlovich Korolev became the Chief Designer who launched Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin into orbit, he was a prisoner in the Soviet penal system. This episode traces his journey from a promising aviation engineer to a victim of Stalin’s purges, arrested in 1938 on fabricated charges of sabotage. We explore his time in the sharashka, or design bureau, where imprisoned scientists were forced to work under NKVD guard to develop missile technology. From the harsh conditions of Kolyma to the secret facilities in Moscow, Korolev’s story reveals how the Soviet space program was built on the backs of political prisoners. Lucas and Luna discuss the moral complexities of his survival, the role of Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria in controlling these projects, and how Korolev’s genius emerged from the shadows of the Gulag Archipelago. Discover the human cost behind the Red Star's rise.
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