Korolyov (city)

Korolyov or Korolev ( _ru. Королёв) is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, well-known as the cradle of Soviet and Russian space exploration. It was originally founded as Kaliningrad in 1938 by Vasiliy Boldyrev, Naum Nosovsky and Mikhail Loginov as the leading Soviet center for production of anti-tank and air-defense guns. However, after the Great Patriotic war the artillery plant was reconstructed in 1946 for production of rockets, launch vehicles and spacecraft under the guidance of Russian scientist and academician Sergei Korolyov. He envisioned, consolidated and guided the activities of many people in the Soviet space exploration program. That plant later became known as RKK Energia, and in July 1996 the town was officially renamed in commemoration of Sergei Korolyov. Mission Control Center ("Центр Управления Полетами", "Tsentr Upravleniya Polyotami", "ЦУП" "TsUP") is also located in Korolev.

History

In the 12th century, a Slavic settlement was located on the site of modern Korolyov. The settlement stood on a junction of trade routes between the Moscow and Vladimir-Suzdal principalities. After the Mongol invasion the region was in decline. In the 18th century, one of the first textile factories in Russia was established here.

In 1924, the first OGPU working commune in the Soviet Union was established here. In 1938, the town of Kaliningrad was founded in place of the Kalininsky settlement near an artillery plant, which had previously been evacuated from Petrograd.

Korolyov was a place of elite dachas at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Many famous people, such as Konstantin Stanislavski, Anton Chekhov, Valery Bryusov, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Isaac Levitan, Pavel Tretyakov, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Vladimir Lenin, lived here.Nowadays, Korolyov is the seventh biggest city in Moscow Oblast, with a population of 142,568 as of the 2002 Census. In 2005 it became the third biggest one in the region, mostly due to an influx of new inhabitants considering it one of the most attractive places to live near Moscow. The main enterprise of the city is the RKK Energia, but there are several kinds of industry in the city.

External links

*en icon [http://www.korolev.ru/english/e_index.html Official website of Korolyov]
*ru icon [http://www.korolev.ru/cp/index.html Official website of Korolyov]
*ru icon [http://www.pro-korolev.ru/ Unofficial website of Korolyov]