Editing Sergei Korolev (section)

==Death==
[[File:Korolyev kremlin wall.jpg|thumb|right|Korolev's tomb (left) in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]]]
[[File:The Soviet Union 1969 CPA 3731 stamp (Sergei Korolev).jpg|thumb|Korolev on a [[Postage stamps and postal history of Russia|1969 Soviet stamp]] (10 kopeks)]]
[[File:Stamp of Romania (1989) - Sergei Korolyov.jpg|thumb|Korolev on a 1989 Romanian stamp]]
On 3 December 1960, Korolev suffered his first [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} During his convalescence, it was also discovered that he was suffering from a kidney disorder, a condition brought on by his detention in the Soviet prison camps.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} He was warned by the doctors that if he continued to work as intensely as he had, he would not live long. Korolev became convinced that Khrushchev was only interested in the space program for its propaganda value and feared that he would cancel it entirely if the Soviets started losing their leadership to the United States, so he continued to push himself.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=51,198-199}}

By 1962, Korolev's health problems were beginning to accumulate and he was suffering from numerous ailments. He had a bout of intestinal bleeding that led to him being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. In 1964 doctors diagnosed him with [[cardiac arrhythmia]]. In February he spent ten days in the hospital after a heart problem. Shortly after, he was suffering from inflammation of his [[gallbladder]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} The mounting pressure of his workload was also taking a heavy toll, and he was suffering from a lot of fatigue. Korolev was also experiencing hearing loss, possibly from repeated exposure to loud rocket-engine tests.{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=276-7}}

The actual circumstances of Korolev's death remain somewhat uncertain. In December 1965, he was supposedly diagnosed with a bleeding [[polyp (medicine)|polyp]] in his [[large intestine]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} He entered the hospital on 5 January 1966 for routine surgery, but died nine days later. It was stated by the government that he had what turned out to be a large, cancerous [[tumor]] in his abdomen, but [[Valentin Glushko]] later reported that he actually died due to a poorly performed operation for [[hemorrhoid]]s.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} Another version states that the operation was going well when Korolev started to bleed. Doctors tried to provide [[intubation]] to allow him to breathe freely, but his jaws, injured during his time in a Gulag, had not healed properly and impeded the installation of the breathing tube. Korolev died without regaining consciousness. According to Harford,{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=279}} Korolev's family confirmed the cancer story. His weak heart contributed to his death during surgery. {{sfn|Harford|1997|p=278-285}}<ref>McKie, Robin, "[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/mar/13/yuri-gagarin-first-space-korolev Sergei Korolev: the rocket genius behind Yuri Gagarin]", ''[[The Observer]]'', 13 March 2011, retrieved 21 March 2011.</ref>

Under a policy initiated by Stalin and continued by his successors, the identity of Korolev was not revealed until after his death. The purported reason was to protect him from foreign agents from the United States. As a result, the Soviet people did not become aware of his accomplishments until after his death. His obituary was published in the ''[[Pravda]]'' newspaper on 16 January 1966, showing a photograph of Korolev with all his medals. Korolev's ashes were interred with state honors in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis|Kremlin Wall]].{{sfn|Harford|1997|p=282-285}}

Korolev is comparable to [[Wernher von Braun]] as the leading architects of the [[Space Race]].<ref>{{cite episode
 | title = Inside the Gulag
 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/podcasts/moonrise-the-origins-of-apollo-11-mission/
 | series = Moonrise
 | credits = Lillian Cunningham
 | network = Washington Post Podcasts
 | air-date = 13 August 2019
| number = 13
 | minutes = 39 minutes
 }}</ref> Like von Braun, Korolev had to compete continually with rivals, such as [[Vladimir Chelomey]], who had their own plans for flights to the Moon. Unlike the Americans, he also had to work with technology that in many aspects was less advanced than what was available in the United States, particularly in electronics and computers, and to cope with extreme political pressure.

Korolev's successor in the Soviet space program was [[Vasily Mishin]], a quite competent engineer who had served as his deputy and right-hand man. After Korolev died, Mishin became the Chief Designer, and he inherited what turned out to be a flawed [[N1 rocket]] program. In 1972, Mishin was fired and then replaced by a rival, Valentin Glushko, after all four N-1 test launches failed. By that time, the rival Americans had already made it to the Moon, and so the program was canceled by CPSU General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]].