Radio Engineer Felix Meschansky

Abstract

Dr. Felix Lipmanovich Meschansky was born in Moscow in 1926. He worked in the field of rocket and space radio communications from 1954 to 1986. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Geodesy Engineering in 1948 and received his candidate of science degree in 1952 and the doctor of science degree in 1972. He worked at the Central Scientific-Research Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Radar Engineering No. 108, and the Central Scientific-Research Institute No. 885 for radio control of rockets. Dr. Meschansky became the founder of a new field of applied geodesy for radio communications and played an active part in the development of deep space communication antennas for the Soviet Deep Space Tracking Network. Since 1991 Dr. Meschansky lives in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is the editor of Geodesy Methods for Antenna Complexes (1991) and the author of a book of memoirs, The Invisible Side (2009).¹

June 12, 2009

Quincy, MA

Interviewer: Slava Gerovitch

The interview was conducted in Russian and translated by Slava Gerovitch.

As a leading specialist in space radio communications, Felix Meschansky was involved in the preparation and implementation of a number of lunar probe missions, and in the development of scientific and engineering foundations for deep space communication. This interview explains several incidents of communication failure during space missions, discusses the different personalities and management styles of the chief designers Korolev and Ryazanskiy, and tells a remarkable story of Meschansky putting his personal career on the line by violating an established procedure in order to implement an ingenious engineering solution of a serious problem.