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Several models of Korolyov's first test rocket, called Semyorka (Number 7) exploded. Khrushchev reveals that in one such incident in October 1960, Mikhail Yangel, a colleague of Korolyov's, survived only because he stepped into a special insulated smoking room to have a cigarette. Dozens of other witnesses, including Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, then commander in chief of Soviet missile forces, were burned to death. Despite these early failures, Khrushchev notes that "thanks to Comrade Korolyov and his associates, we now had a rocket that could carry a nuclear warhead." The Semyorka, Khrushchev adds, paved the Soviet road into outer space.
Some of my conversations with Comrade Korolyov made me worry that if war ever came, our enemy might be able to destroy our Semyorka before we could get it into the air. The rocket was fired from a launching pad which looked like a huge tabletop and could easily be detected by reconnaissance planes or satellites in orbit around the earth.
So what could we do to avoid detection? My experience early in life as a coal miner and later as a supervisor during the building of the Moscow Metro came in handy when I began trying to think of ways we could hide our missile sites from enemy reconnaissance. It occurred to me that since missiles are cylindrical, we could put them into sunken covered shafts.
I told some engineers about my idea and asked them their views on the feasibility. They hemmed and hawed and finally told me they thought the idea wouldn't work. I was flabbergasted, but—always mindful of my political status—I realized I had no right to force the idea down their throats. I assumed these people knew their own professions, so I let the matter drop.
A year or more passed. My son Sergei, who's an engineer himself, had something to do with missiles and kept me informed on how the testing program was going. He also followed American publications closely. One day, to my surprise and delight, he told me that he'd read in some American journal that the U.S. had begun to replace launching pads with silos.
Look at this, Father," he said. "The Americans have introduced the plan which you thought up a year or so ago but which our people turned down." Now I felt justified in giving some orders. I summoned the people responsible and said, "Now look what's happened! The Americans have begun to dig the ballistic missile shafts which I proposed a long time ago. Let's get started on this program right away."
I don't think it was until after my retirement that we completely converted our missile system from launching pads to sunken silos, but I was proud of my role in originating the idea and later seeing that the conversion was begun.