Kosberg, Semen

Born Oct. 1 (14), 1903, in Slutsk; died Jan. 3, 1965, in Voronezh. Soviet designer; specialist in aviation and rocket engines; doctor of technical sciences (1959); Hero of Socialist Labor (1961). Member of the CPSU from 1929.

After graduating in 1931 from the Moscow Aviation Institute, Kosberg worked in the largest design organizations of the aviation industry. In 1941 he became the chief designer of a design bureau. He contributed greatly to the development of aircraft engines used in the La-5 and La-7 fighters and in other wartime mass-produced aircraft. Between 1946 and 1965 a series of liquid-propellant rocket engines were developed under his direction, which were mounted in the upper stages of the launch vehicles that lifted manned spacecraft, artificial earth satellites, and unmanned interplanetary space probes. He received the Lenin Prize (1960) and was awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after him.