Georgy Erikhovich Langemak (June 26 (N.S. July 8), 1898–January 11, 1938) was a Soviet rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

 designer of German/Swiss background.

Beginning in 1928, he worked at the Soviet Gas Dynamics Laboratory along with several other notable Soviet rocket scientists, and they developed rocket projectiles that used smokeless powder. This group was later merged with another rocketry organization to become the Jet Propulsion Research Institute (RNII). Langemak became the deputy director of the RNII. In 1936 this group completed the technical specifications for a rocket-glider.

By 1937, during the Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

, he was fired and arrested by the Soviet government, along with the RNII director Ivan Kleymenov

Ivan Kleymenov

Ivan Terentyevich Kleymyonov , last name also spelled Kleymenov, was a Soviet scientist and one of the founders of the Soviet rocketry.Ivan Kleymyonov graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in 1928...

 and the engine designer Valentin Glushko

Valentin Glushko

Valentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko was a Soviet engineer, and the principal Soviet designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.-Biography:...

, on trumped up charges. Both Langemak and Kleimenov were tortured, sentenced to die in a mock trial, then executed.

He is chiefly remembered for being the co-designer and directing the development of the unguided rockets which were to be used with such success in the Katyusha rocket launchers of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The crater Langemak

Langemak (crater)

Langemak is a prominent impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It is located less than one crater diameter west-northwest of Danjon, and nearly due east of Meitner. To the southwest of Langemak is Kondratyuk. Langemak partly overlies the larger and older crater Langemak N...

 on the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

is named in his honor.