Korolev, chief designer of the Soviet space program, is admitted to the hospital for a routine operation to remove intestinal polyps. During the operation, a large tumor is discovered spreading across his abdomen. Due to his broken jaw (from his imprisonment in the Gulag many years earlier), he is forced to breathe through a tracheotomy. Korolov dies shortly thereafter from respiratory distress and heart failure. The blow to Soviet cosmonautics is tremendous.
