Apr 12, 2003 - Sale 1967

Sale 1967 - Lot 380

Unsold
Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 9,000
KOROLEV THANKS HIS SUPPORTERS Luna 2 Presentation duplicate pendants. Two metal and enamel pentagonal medals approximately 1.75 inches each, one stamped CCCP and the date September 1959 and the other with the Soviet emblem. Cased in a wooden box with a color print of the moon mounted on the underside of the presentation case lid. With a 20 August, 1964 dated inscription by Korolev who has added a red mark where the Soviets had first lunar impact. 20 August, 1964
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These emblems were reproductions of the the objects exploded and scattered on the lunar surface upon the impact of Luna 2 with the Moon on September 12, 1959. Intended as gifts from Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the designer of the Luna and Vostok rockets, to commemorate the Soviet success of first impact on another celestial object.
Korolev was a legendary figure in the history of Soviet rocketry, adapting German technology so successfully that the early advances and Soviet triumphs in the space program (first man in space, first group flight, first woman in space, first EVA,, etc.) were completed through his engine and rocket designs. Unfortunately, he was forced to work within the infamous Soviet bureaucracy, an environment of political infighting that forced him to compete with other designers such as Glushko and justify his manned flight program over the Soviet military's desire to concentrate on missile technology.
The present lot was no doubt intended not only as a gift to supporters, but to keep Korolev's achievements to the fore in a time of great division in the program.
He died unexpectedly in 1965 a blow from which the Russian program never recovered.