RESHETNEV: 65 Years in Space
Joint-Stock Company “Academician M. F. Reshetnev “Information Satellite Systems” was founded on June 4th, 1959 as the Siberian branch of the Special Design Bureau №1 headed by Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov. The new Bureau branch was set to be located in Krasnoyarsk-26, a restricted-access town that is currently known as Zheleznogorsk, which already hosted one of the Krasmash plant facilities.
The branch was initially tasked with rocket engineering projects. Mikhail Fyodorovich Reshetnev, Korolyov’s deputy, was appointed as branch manager and chief designer.
In December, 1961 the Special Design Bureau №1 Siberian Branch was transformed into Special Design Bureau №10 thus gaining independence and a capability to determine the subject matter of its R&D. The first fully independent designs by M. Reshetnev’s team were the KOSMOS-3 lightweight carrier rocket and STRELA-1 communication satellites.