The article advocates a "great man" theory that I'm not too sure is justified. The article says Korolev designed the R-7, but that's ridiculous. Even a simple l

The article advocates a "great man" theory that I'm not too sure is justified. The article says Korolev designed the R-7, but that's ridiculous. Even a simple liquid fueled rocket of that size is way too complicated for a single designer. He may have done back of the envelope calculations to set some main sizes, and he may have referred conflicts between the many specialists that drew blueprints and specified turbo pumps etc etc etc, but he didn't design the whole thing. In light of the Soviet division between "design bureau" and factory, this emphasis on a great man is even less realistic. A side note: one of Korolev's slide rules is on display in the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS alongside one of von Braun's. The Soviets were austere, no mistake. Korolev's doesn't even have scale letters marking it, and there's a ruler on one side