Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (, , Serhiy Pavlovych Korolyov), also transliterated as Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov; – 14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered by many as the father of practical astronautics.