Present For The Beginning: A Khrushchev Remembers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — He is 72 now, a distinguished engineer and author who holds several advanced degrees and a senior fellowship at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. But 50 years ago, he had a singular vantage point on the Soviet Unions triumphant leap into space.

Sergei N. Khrushchev, then 22, was an engineering student who often traveled with his father, the Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev. In a recent interview at his office here, he recalled that his countrymen were startled by the speed and intensity of Americas response to the success of Sputnik.

The U.S. couldnt believe someone could be ahead of them in technology, Dr. Khrushchev said in fluent English tinged with a Russian accent. It was shock and fear. We were surprised by the reaction.

It was not that the Soviets missed the importance of Sputnik, he said, but it was seen as one more thing in Soviet technical progress, one more achievement.

We had built the first nuclear power plant, our MIG fighters were breaking aviation records, we had launched a successful jet airliner, he continued. It was one more thing for us and we were proud, but it was a shock in the United States.

The day after the launching, Pravda ran a small article on its front page describing the development in dry, clinical language, telling people how to listen to the new moons signal and promising bigger and more capable scientific satellites. Elsewhere in the world, newspapers ran banner headlines and multiple articles speculating about what it meant for the future.

Once that reaction became clear, Dr. Khrushchev said, Soviet officials quickly decided to make the most of it. We must make a big noise about this, he said his father declared. Yes, make a big noise.

The following day, Pravda devoted most of its front page to Sputnik, its banner headline reading, Worlds First Artificial Satellite of Earth Created in Soviet Nation. The issue included congratulations from scientists in the West; a map showing the satellites track over the Soviet Union and (for good measure) American cities; and even poems with titles like Leap Into the Future.

Roald Z. Sagdeev, a former director of the Soviet Institute for Space Research who is now a professor at the University of Maryland, said that even if the United States had launched a satellite before the Soviets, there still would have been active competition in space because both powers had rockets and visionary people to make it possible.

But when Sputnik went up first, Dr. Sagdeev said, there was this feeling of My God, we are catching up with the United States! In a few years, maybe we will go ahead. That hope meant a lot to the Soviet people.

Sergei Khrushchev is taller than his father, but when he turns, his profile bears a momentary resemblance to him. He recalled that his father, who had wanted to be an engineer before being swept into politics, had a keen interest in missiles and space.

In the 1950s, deeply concerned about an attack from the United States, Khrushchev pressed his military to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach American soil.

Sergei P. Korolev, an engineer and management mastermind considered the father of the Soviet space program, was in charge of developing that nations first ICBM, the R-7. A crucial moment in space history occurred on Feb. 27, 1956, when Khrushchev and an entourage (including his son) visited Korolevs offices and saw a full-scale model of the huge R-7 rocket. As the impressed visitors were about to leave, Korolev asked Khrushchev for a moment to discuss another project.

Then Korolev took Father to a corner, Dr. Khrushchev said, and showed him a model of a strange object that he said the R-7 could send into space and fly around the Earth like a small moon. He talked about how eventually these objects could go to the Moon and even send people into space.

Korolev said the feat could be done at little cost and would be a prestigious first for the Soviet Union.

Father was very interested, Dr. Khrushchev said, and had only one question: Would this hurt the ICBM program in any way or put it behind schedule? Korolev said no, and then he got the O.K. from Khrushchev to proceed.

That event led to the night of Oct. 4 the next year, when Khrushchev was visiting Ukraine to witness military maneuvers, talk with local officials and discuss with some generals his plan to oust Marshal Georgi Zhukov, the World War II hero suspected of planning a coup.

It was late in the Mariinsky Palace, where the premiers party was staying, but Khrushchev stayed up talking to officials around a dinner table as he awaited a telephone call, which came shortly before midnight. Father came back from another room with a smile on his face, and I knew then that Sputnik had been launched, Dr. Khrushchev said.

An outstanding event has happened, Father announced. Korolev has called me and reported that a little while ago the artificial satellite was put into orbit. As Khrushchev talked about rockets and what the event meant, those in the room listened politely but with little interest, Dr. Khrushchev said.

The aide who had summoned Khrushchev for the phone call returned to the room and turned on a radio in a corner, setting it to the right frequency for the group to hear a few moments of the beeping of the satellite signal before the craft faded over the horizon.

Father listened intently and happily, Dr. Khrushchev said. When it was over, he ended the meeting and went to bed. It had been a good day.

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