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Sergey Alekseevich Sopov

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Sergey Sopov
Born (1957-07-15) July 15, 1957 (age 67)
Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, USSR
Citizenship
  • USSR
  • Russian Federation
AwardsMedal "For Distinguished Labour", Medal "For Impeccable Service", Jubilee Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", "Sergei Korolev Order" of the Russian Space Federation, "Sergei Korolev Medal" of the Russian Space Federation.

Sergey Alekseevich Sopov (Russian: Сергей Алексеевич Сопов, IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej aɭʲiksʲˈejivʲit͡ʃʲ sˈopʌf]; 15 July 1957, Verkhneuralsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, USSR) is a Soviet and Russian spacecraft engineer and aerospace industry leader, currently serving as CTO at Aspire Space Technologies S.A.

Sergey Sopov was the founder and first head of the Space Research Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1991–1993), CEO of the state aerospace company Coscom (1993–1995), CEO of Avialeasing Aviation Company (1996–2015), CEO of Perm Engines Corporation (2001–2013), Head of Sea Launch multinational spacecraft launch company (2015–2019), CEO of S7 Space LLC (2016–2019).

At the moment, Sergey Sopov is engaged in the creation of a new space transportation system as the CTO at Aspire Space Technologies S.A.

Life and career

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In 1979, Sergey Sopov graduated from the Perm Higher Military Command and Engineering School (now the Perm Military Institute of Missile Forces) with a degree in Automated Command and Control Systems for Missile Systems.

After graduation, he served at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where he was responsible for the testing of onboard systems of the Almaz orbital station. He then went on to become Head of Pre-launch automated control systems unit working for the Energia launch vehicle, and then Head of the Systems integration test laboratory of the Energia-Buran programme. In 1987, Sopov supervised the fuelling of the Energia heavy-lift launch vehicle during its first launch with the Polyus spacecraft. In 1988, Sopov played a key role in Historic launch of Energia-Buran reusable space transportation system, being a leader of preparation and launch team. Sergey Sopov developed the procedure for the pre-launch preparation of RSTS systems of the Buran (MTKS 1K11K25) series.[1]

In 1991, Sopov played a key role in the establishment of the Kazakhstan Space Research Agency and the transfer of the management of Baikonur Cosmodrome to the Kazakhstan government. Subsequently, he was responsible for the lease of the Baikonur complex to the Russian Federation.[2][1] Sergey Sopov is the student of Boris Gubanov, a prominent Soviet engineer and leading designer of the Energia launch vehicle. Jointly with his professor, Sopov designed the Dnepr launch vehicle based on SS-18 missiles.[3] He also developed a project of transforming the Kazakh part of Baikonur into an international cosmoport. Between 1995 and 2015, Sergey Sopov was the CEO and chairman of the board at Perm Engines Corporation as well as CEO and Chairman of the Boart at Avialeasing Aviation Company. In 2016, Sopov established S7 Space LLC and supervised the acquisition of the Sea Launch complex as well as the new system for the operation of Sea Launch facilities at Long Beach, California.[4][5]

In December 2017, S7 Space under Sergey Sopov performed its first commercial launch at Baikonur: an Angosat 1 communications satellite on a Zenit carrier rocket.

A launch of Zenit-3SL carrier rocket from the Sea Launch platform Ocean Odyssey

In 2017, Sopov developed the concept of an Orbital Cosmodrome project, while in 2018 he laid out the main provisions for the implementation of reusable space transportation systems at Baikonur, an endeavour that earned him the Sergei Korolev Order of the Russian Space Federation.[6][7]

To further this project, Sergey Sopov established MTKS (“Reusable Space Transport Systems”) LLC that set out to design a reusable cargo vehicle, Argo, and a launch vehicle with a reusable first stage.[8][9][10][11] The project was put on hold in 2022.[7]

Awards

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Medal for Distinguished Labour, Medal for Impeccable Service, Jubilee Medal "50 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", Sergei Korolev Order of the Russian Space Federation, Sergei Korolev Medal of the Russian Space Federation.

References

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  1. ^ a b Trofimova, Oksana (2024-03-19). "Как Казахстану не дали распорядиться советским ракетным наследием". informburo.kz. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  2. ^ "Russia, Kazakhs reach Biakonur lease deal. (Baikonur Cosmodrome launch complex)". www.highbeam.com. 1994-03-30. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  3. ^ kai.ru, kai.ru (2024-03-26). "First Deputy of General Designer of Scientific Production Association Energia, Leading Designer of the Energia-Buran Space and Missile System". kai.ru. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  4. ^ Nyrkov, Denis (2018-08-08). "Sea Launch: Does The Platform Have A Future?". spacewatch.global. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  5. ^ Henry, Caleb (2018-04-17). "S7 closes Sea Launch purchase, future rocket TBD". spacenews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  6. ^ Vitaly, Egorov (July 2018). "#SpaceWatchGL Interviews: Sergey Sopov of S7 Space. Part I". spacewatch.global. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  7. ^ a b Tass, Tass (2020-07-15). "Russian private firm MTKS to make four prototypes of reusable spacecraft for $136 mln". tass.com. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  8. ^ Zak, Anatoly (2018-10-22). "Sea Launch promises return to flight in two years". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  9. ^ "Russia plans Reusable Rocket to Complete With Elon Musk by 2024". themoscowtimes.com. 2019-10-30. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  10. ^ "Russian private firm MTKS to make four prototypes of reusable spacecraft for $136 mln". tass.com. 2020-06-15.
  11. ^ Vitaly, Egorov (July 2018). "#SpaceWatchGL Interviews: Sergey Sopov of S7 Space. Part II". spacewatch.global. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
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