Sergei Pavlovich Korolev born 12 January [O.S. 30 December 1906] 1907 in Zhytomyr, Russian Empire (now Ukraine); died 15 July 1996 in Moscow, USSR was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union from the 1950s to1980s. He is considered by many as the father of practical astronautics.