The rocket in question was driven by a powerful Russian engine unlike any ever built in the States. Although this particular engine was new, the design dated back to the space age. By the early ...

In 1959, lead Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev ... Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin, a 26-year-old MiG pilot, was one of the few chosen to train for the early missions.

Soviet engineers began work on large rockets in the 1930s. In May 1955, work began on the Baikonur launch site in central Asia. In August-1957, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile ...