Founding of the Lavochkin Design Bureau (OKB-301). Derived from the Lavochkin Design Bureau, which designed airplanes during World War II and was then headed by Georgi Babakin (self-taught, suspicious of public education), it has had some spectacular successes such as the famous Lunokhod automatic lunar rovers and the Venera missions to Venus. It also designed the Fregat and Ikar upper stages and the Oko military satellites. In recent years, it has also developed and tested inflatable space structures for atmospheric reentry (IRDT – tested in 2000, 2002, and 2005, but all with lost cargo) and solar sails (2001 and 2005, both failures).
