Georgi Nikolayevich Babakin

Who was Georgi Nikolayevich Babakin?

Georgy Nikolayevich Babakin was a Soviet engineer working in the space program. He was Chief Designer at the Lavochkin Design Bureau from 1965 until his death.

Babakin's early career was spent in radio engineering, starting with a job at the Moscow telephone company in 1930, working on an urban radio network. From 1943 to 1949, Babakin worked on radar targeting systems at the Institute of Automation, where he became its chief engineer.

Babakin became involved in the Soviet space program in 1949, working in Boris Chertok's division of NII-88 on surface-to-air missiles and targeting systems. In 1952, he was part of a group transferred to Lavochkin's bureau OBK-301 to work on the intercontinental cruise missile burya and the V-300 anti-aircraft missile.

In 1960, Lavochkin died at an aircraft show, and the bureau was subsumed by Vladimir Chelomei. It became independent again in 1965, with Babakin as its chief designer. Sergey Korolev wanted Babakin to take over unmanned lunar and planetary probes, so he could focus his attention on the N-1 Moon-landing project.