Editing Sergei Korolev (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Korolev_(1907).jpg|thumb|left|190px|Korolev with his nanny Varvara Marchenko (1907)]]
[[File:Korolev (1912) 01.jpg|thumb|180px|Korolev in 1912]]
Korolev was born in the city of [[Zhytomyr]], the capital of [[Volhynian Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] (now in [[Ukraine]]). His father, Pavel Yakovlevich Korolev, was born in [[Mogilev]] to a [[Russians|Russian]] soldier and a [[Belarusians|Belarusian]] mother.<ref>http://www.famhist.ru/famhist/korol/001905fe.htm</ref><ref>https://www.sb.by/articles/kosmicheskiy-vklad-strelec.html</ref><ref name="epizodsspace.airbase.ru">[http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/koroleva-n/otets/koroleva-otets-t1-2007.pdf Наталия Королева – С.П. Королев] Отец, Москва Наука, 2007, accessed 18 April 2021</ref><ref>[http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/koroleva-n/otets/koroleva-otets-t1-2007.pdf Наталия Королева – С.П. Королев] Отец, page 48, Москва Наука, 2007</ref>

His mother, Maria Nikolaevna Koroleva (Moskalenko/Bulanina), was a daughter of a wealthy merchant from the city of [[Nizhyn]], with [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], Greek and Polish heritage.<ref name="epizodsspace.airbase.ru">[http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/koroleva-n/otets/koroleva-otets-t1-2007.pdf Наталия Королева – С.П. Королев] Отец, Москва Наука, 2007, accessed 18 April 2021</ref><ref>[http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/koroleva-n/otets/koroleva-otets-t1-2007.pdf Наталия Королева – С.П. Королев] Отец, page 19, Москва Наука, 2007</ref>

His father moved to Zhytomyr to be a teacher of the Russian language.<ref>[http://zhzh.info/news/2007-01-12-761 В Житомире сто лет назад появился на свет Сергей Королев. ФОТО / Культура / Журнал Житомира / Zhitomir City Journal]. ''tr. "Sergey Korolev was born in Zhitomir a hundred years ago"'' Zhzh.info (12 January 2007). Retrieved on 30 April 2011.</ref> Three years after Sergei's birth the couple separated due to financial difficulties. Although Pavel later wrote to Maria requesting a meeting with his son, Sergei was told by his mother that his father had allegedly died. Sergei never saw his father after the family break-up, and Pavel died in 1929 before his son learned the truth.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=16}}

Korolev grew up in Nizhyn,<ref name=Great/> under the care of his maternal grandparents Nikolay Yakovlevich Moskalenko who was a trader of the [[Merchant guild (Russian Empire)#2nd guild|Second Guild]] and Maria Matveevna Moskalenko (née Fursa), a daughter of a local [[cossack]]. Korolev's mother also had a sister Anna and two brothers Yuri and Vasily. Maria Koroleva was frequently away attending Women's higher education courses in Kiev, so Sergei was often by himself and grew up a lonely child with few friends. In 1914 [[World War I]] commenced with social unrest in the Kiev area. No one had time for the seven year old Korolev during this period and he was noted as being stubborn, persistent, and argumentative.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=19}} Korolev began reading at an early age from his grandfather's newspapers, and his pre-school teacher noted he had an excellent memory with abilities in mathematics, reading and writing.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=17-19}} His mother divorced Pavel in 1915 and in 1916 married Grigory Mikhailovich Balanin, an electrical engineer who had been educated in Germany but who had to attend the Kiev Polytechnic University because German engineering diplomas were not recognized in Russia. Grigory was an excellent step-father, positively influencing Korolev's manners and study habits.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=19}} After getting a job with the regional railway, Grigory moved the family to [[Odessa]]<ref name=Great/> in 1917, where they endured hardships with many other families through the tumultuous years following the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]] and continuing internecine struggles until the [[Bolsheviks]] assumed unchallenged power in 1920. Local schools were closed and young Korolev had to continue his studies at home, where he suffered from a bout of typhus during the severe food shortages of 1919.<ref name=Great/>