Providing a history of the Soviet space programme from the 1930s to the 1970s, this work focuses on Sergei Korolev, the man who built the programme, started the space race, and dominated the programme until his death in 1966. The evolution of the Soviet space program, which brought the Space Age into being, is one of the most important developments of the 20th century. This book shows how a huge military-industry-university complex comprised of gifted, dedicated engineers and scientists met the gigantic challenge of pioneering the space age under a repressive, secretive regime with limited technology. Although virtually unknown both in his own country and in the West, Korolev is considered by those knowledgeable about the subject to be as, if not more, important than Werhner von Braun. This is the personal story behind the Soviet space programme: Korolev emerged from imprisonment as a spy in a Siberian gulag to full freedom to lead the space programmes he dominated until his sudden death, which is still shrouded in mystery.