Editing Sergei Korolev (section)

====Criticism====

Engineer [[Sergei Khrushchev]], son of former [[Soviet Premier]] Nikita Khrushchev, explained in an interview some of the shortcomings he discerned in Korolev's approach, which in his opinion was why the Soviets didn't land on the Moon:

{{Blockquote
|text=I think Russia had no chance to be ahead of the Americans under Sergei Korolev and his successor, Vasili Mishin. ... Korolev was not a scientist, not a designer: he was a brilliant manager. Korolev's problem was his mentality. His intent was to somehow use the launcher he had [the N1 rocket]. It was designed in 1958 for a different purpose and with a limited payload of about 70 tons. His philosophy was, let's not work by stages [as is usual in spacecraft design], but let's assemble everything and then try it. And at last it will work. There were several attempts and failures with Lunnik [a series of uncrewed Soviet moon probes]. Sending man to the moon is too complicated, too complex for such an approach. I think it was doomed from the very beginning.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/apollo-moon-khrushchev/|title=The Moon Landing through Soviet Eyes: A Q&A with Sergei Khrushchev, son of former premier Nikita Khrushchev|first=Saswato R.|last=Das|website=Scientific American}}</ref>
}}
Another reason the Soviet crewed lunar program didn't succeed was the rivalry between Korolev and [[Vladimir Chelomey]]. Their animosity was due to the intolerable persona of both men, and their desire for leadership at any cost. The two never said a harsh word about each other either in public or in private, but toppled each other's projects in any way possible. Instead of dividing competencies and responsibilities and cooperating in order to pursue the same goal, the two struggled for leadership in the space program.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sergei|last=Khrushchev|title=Никита Хрущев: Рождение сверхдержавы|trans-title=Nikita Khrushchev: The Birth of a Superpower|language=ru|location=Moscow|publisher=Vremya|date=2010|pages=210–225, 245–291, 553–576}}</ref> According to Khrushchev, who worked for Chelomey and knew both men well, they both would have preferred the Americans to land on the Moon first rather than their rival.<ref>[http://echo.msk.ru/programs/hrushev/668837-echo/ Sergei Khrushchev talks to Echo Moskvy] (in Russian).</ref>