Widely regarded as the founder of the Soviet space programme.

Korolev started training in aeronautical engineering at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1924. Two years later he transferred to Russia's best engineering college in Moscow. After graduating he participated in a number of important research teams and helped found the Moscow-based Jet Propulsion Research Group, later reorganised under military direction. In this capacity, Korolev led the development of cruise missiles and a manned rocket-powered glider.

In 1938, at the height of Stalin's purges, Korolev was arrested and sent to the gulag camps in Siberia and later Moscow's infamous Butyrskaya prison.

After Stalin's demise, Korolev gained the support of the new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and was released from prison. He led the development of several generations of ballistic missiles, launch vehicles, science, military and communications satellites, interplanetary probes and manned spacecraft. His most notable successes include the 1957 Sputnik programme, which launched the first artificial satellite into space, and the Vostok and Voskhod projects which proved that manned spaceflight was possible.

Korolev died in 1966 as a result of a botched surgical operation. His accomplishments were acknowledged by his country and he was given a hero's burial within the Kremlin wall.