Organizations and infrastructure

MANAGEMENT

Unlike the American space program, whose military and civilian components were split with the formation of NASA in 1958, the Soviet space program remained firmly rooted in the missile program from which it originated in the 1950s and remained an institutional arm of the defense industry. Therefore, the distinction between military and civilian space projects was much more blurred than in the United States, which was also evident in the management of the Energiya-Buran program.

Communist Party level

At the Communist Party level, space was the responsibility of the Central Commit­tee’s Secretary for Defense Matters, a position established by Nikita Khrushchov in 1957 as the focus of power shifted from the USSR Council of Ministers to the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The holder of the post was the most important figure in determining space policy in the USSR between 1957 and 1991, although it should be understood that space was only one of the numerous responsibilities resting on his shoulders.

Dmitriy F. Ustinov, who served as Secretary for Defense Matters from March 1965 until October 1976, was by many accounts the single most important man behind the decision to go ahead with Buran. Following in his footsteps were Yakob R. Ryabov (1976-1979), Andrey P. Kirilenko (1979-1983), Grigoriy V. Romanov (1983-1985), Lev N. Zaykov (1985-1988), and Oleg D. Baklanov (1988-1991).