On September 21, a postcard with a commemorative stamp dedicated to the 100th Birth Anniversary of Vladimir Utkin, a scientist, a designer of rocket and space technology, was put into postal circulation in the Space Exploration series

Vladimir Utkin (1923-2000) was a Soviet and Russian scientist, a designer, a specialist in rocket and space technology; a Twice Hero of Socialist Labor, a Winner of the Lenin Prize; the Chief Designer and the Head of the Yuzhnoye Design Office, an Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1984).

Vladimir Utkin was born on October 17, 1923, in the Ryazan Province. In 1952, he graduated from the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute. In 1967, he was appointed the First Deputy of the Chief Designer and the Head of the Yuzhnoye Design Office; in 1971, the Chief Designer and the Head of the Design Office; and in 1979, he took the position of the General Designer and the Head of the Design Office.

In the capacity of a designer and the leader of research and development, Utkin was directly involved in the development of modern launch vehicles and spacecraft. Under his leadership, four strategic missile systems were developed and put into service, as well as several launch vehicles were designed. The latest engineering designs were highly efficient, environmentally friendly Zenit boost vehicle capable of placing 12 tons of payload into the near-Earth orbit, the RT-23 solid-fuel rocket, which was used to equip combat railway missile systems, and highly efficient R-36M strategic missile.

In 1990-2000, Vladimir Utkin was the Director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency.

The commemorative stamp provides a symbolic image of a boost vehicle launched into outer space; the main illustration features a portrait of Vladimir Utkin against the background of the launch of the Zenit boost vehicle.

In addition to the issue of the postcard with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg and Ryazan.


Artist: E. Malina (illustration); Design Artist: A. Drobyshev (stamp).
Design Artist: A. Eghiazaryan.
Quantity: 10 thousand cards.

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