Architects of the Universe: to the 95th anniversary of the legendary GIRD

In September 2026, Russian science celebrates a significant date - 95 years since the founding of the legendary Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion (GIRD). This event marks the birth of an organization that managed to turn the bold fantasies of visionaries into accurate engineering calculations and opened the way for humanity to the boundless cosmos.

At the origins of dreams: the basement on Sadovo-Spasskaya

The history of GIRD began in September 1931 under Osoaviahim. It was a community of rocket enthusiasts whose journey to the stars began in more than earthly conditions – in a damp and cold basement on Sadovo-Spasskaya Street in Moscow. The members of the group themselves, with noble self-irony, deciphered the acronym as “a group of engineers working for nothing.” And it was true: in the face of scarcity of materials, machine tools, and funding for scientists, only obsession with space warmed.

At the head of the organization was the future great designer Sergey Pavlovich Korolev, and the inspirer and main theorist was the pioneer of rocket technology Friedrich Zander. Zander’s famous slogan – “Forward to Mars!” – served for the Girdovians not just as a motto, but as a concrete guide to action.

Nahabino: the starting point of a great era

Overcoming the skepticism of contemporaries, GIRD did the impossible. It was here that the first Soviet liquid-fueled ballistic missiles were designed and built. The culmination of titanic labor was August 17, 1933. On this day, the first Soviet liquid rocket GIRD-09, created under the leadership of the Queen under the project of Mikhail Tikhonravov, successfully launched from the test site in the suburbs of Nakhabino. Later, GIRD-X soared into the sky.

The working village of Nakhabino has gone down in history forever as the cradle of domestic rocketry. It is from here that the creation of combat missile technology, which became the foundation of the Strategic Missile Forces, and the entire future program for the development of extraterrestrial space, begins. It is symbolic that in 2020 the Russian Space Society initiated the project “Keeping Memory: GIRD – The First Forever”, designed to preserve the heritage of those who took the first step into the universe.

Legacy of trailblazers

From this "basement community" grew the famous Jet Research Institute, and later the entire space program of the USSR. Without the drawings of the Girdovians, neither the launch of the first artificial satellite of the Earth, nor the triumphal flight of Yuri Gagarin would be possible.

Today you can touch this great story in the halls of the Museum of Cosmonautics of the resort city of Kislovodsk. The exposition contains unique archival materials and models of the first rockets, allowing you to feel the scale of the feat of people who by the strength of their intellect and will forever changed the fate of human civilization.

The 95th anniversary of GIRD is a celebration of great engineering audacity. A group of enthusiasts under the leadership of S.P. Korolev, working in the most difficult conditions, made a scientific and technical breakthrough, ensuring our country’s world leadership in space for decades to come.

Earlier it was reported that the museum of the history of cosmonautics in Kislovodsk was visited by figures of the rocket and space industry.