Meshcheryakov, Ivan Vasilievich

He was born on September 1, 1922 in the village of Nizovka, Nizhnelomovsk district of the Penza province (now the Kamensky district of the Penza region ) in the family of peasants Vasily Ivanovich and Maria Stepanovna Meshcheryakov. After graduating from a 7-year school and a mechanical college in Penza, he entered the Penza flying club . Since 1938, a member of the Komsomol .

On the fronts of World War II

Immediately after the outbreak of World War II, 18-year-old Ivan Meshcheryakov was drafted by the Teleginsky district military enlistment office of the Penza region and sent to the Kuybyshev airborne school, where in October 1941 he was prematurely assigned the rank of junior lieutenant .

Being enrolled in the 7th airborne regiment, he participated in the defense of Moscow, then Stalingrad. In February 1943, he took part in the Demyan offensive operation as part of the 2nd Guards Airborne Division. He was also a participant in the Battle of Kursk , the forcing of the Dnieper , the Korsun-Shevchenko operation , the battles to liberate Hungary , Czechoslovakia . He finished the war in the area of ​​the city of Pardubice .

During the war, Ivan Meshcheryakov was an adjutant of the senior separate battalion, commander of a rifle company, intelligence officer, chief of intelligence of the airborne regiment of the 2nd Guards airborne division of the Proskurov division. He was wounded four times in battles (including once, on the Kursk Bulge, seriously), but each time he returned to duty. Repeatedly captured "languages" in the enemy rear.

In one of the raids behind the front line, a group of intelligence officers under the command of Ivan Meshcheryakov accidentally went to the Wehrmacht junior military ranks in the forest. Scouts decided to attack the enemy. As a result, the school staff was defeated, and a significant part of the cadets was captured and taken to the location of the Soviet troops. For this feat, I.V. Meshcheryakov was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, a member of the Military Council of the Front , L.Z. Mehlis, imposed a resolution on the submission: “The Feat of the Military Council is unknown,” and the award did not take place.

Post-War Service

After the Victory, I.V. Meshcheryakov was sent to the Lviv (Carpathian) military district , where he served in various military enlistment offices and district headquarters. At the same time, he graduated from evening school with a gold medal.

In 1951 he entered the Military Engineering Academy. V.V. Kuybysheva , Department of Radio Telemechanics.

Scientific activity

In 1956, Lieutenant Colonel I.V. Meshcheryakov was sent to the Institute of Strategic Missile Forces for scientific work. There he defended his thesis, passed the positions of senior researcher, department head, deputy head, department head, deputy head of the 4th Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense in space. On duty, I often had to meet and work with the General Designer Sergey Pavlovich Korolev ^[1] .

In 1967, a branch of the institute was organized, where I.V. Meshcheryakov became deputy chief for space facilities of the institute's branch, and since 1968 - for scientific work. In 1972, the branch was transformed into the 50th Central Research Institute of Space Facilities.

Since 1969, he was engaged in the development of a space communications system for managing the strategic forces of the USSR; by decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, he was appointed its chief designer. In 1975, the system was put into service under the code name "Corundum". In 1971 he defended his doctoral dissertation, became a laureate of the USSR State Prize (1971). In 1974 he was awarded the academic title of professor.

In 1983, I.V. Meshcheryakov became the head of the 50th Central Research Institute of Space Tools.

Over the years of service at the institute, he participated in all work on the creation of space weapons, the definition of new areas for the creation of space assets, including command and measurement systems for controlling space assets and strategic forces of the Strategic Missile Forces . He was one of the leading developers of the first domestic navigation space system GLONASS , chairman of the State Commission during its tests. He took part in the development and state tests of the reusable space shuttle Buran . Consistently defended his doctoral (1971) dissertation, became the laureate of the USSR State Prize (1971), professor (1974), honored worker of science and technology of the RSFSR (1988).

I.V. Meshcheryakov is the author of many inventions and scientific discoveries in the field of information and computer technology, system analysis, and technical cybernetics. He developed the theory of high-precision motion control of interplanetary spacecraft.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 17, 1975, I.V. Meshcheryakov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal for outstanding services in creating the latest military equipment and a special communications system.

In 1984, I.V. Meshcheryakov was awarded the rank of lieutenant general .

Retired

In 1988, Lieutenant General I.V. Meshcheryakov retired from military service, but continued to work as a professor in the department of operation and combat use of radio equipment and communications at the F.E.Dzerzhinsky Military Academy .

In 1991, he became the chief academician-secretary and the head of the department of target efficiency at the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky , and later - adviser to the President of the RACC.

He lived in the village of Malakhovka in the Lyubertsy district of the Moscow region . He was engaged in painting, wrote books, took part in the work of the local Museum of History and Culture, replenishing its funds with books on space subjects ^[2] .

He died on September 28, 2012 in the village of Kraskovo, Lyubertsy district, at the 91st year of his life ^[3] . He was buried at the Kuntsevsky cemetery in Moscow.

• First wife - Natalia Yakovlevna Meshcheryakova (virgin. Zolotareva) (1926-1990), doctor of pedagogical sciences, worked at the Institute of Teaching Methods of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences .
• 2nd wife - Natalia Ivanovna Kuznetsova (born 1946), candidate of philological sciences, deputy dean of the literary faculty of Moscow State Pedagogical University .
• Daughter - Maria Ivanovna Meshcheryakova (born 1957), Doctor of Philology.

• Hero of Socialist Labor (1975)
• two orders of Lenin (1975, 1981)
• Order of the October Revolution (1981)
• Order of the Red Banner (1944)
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree (1985)
• Order of the Patriotic War II degree (1944)
• two orders of the Red Star (1943, 1956)
• Order of the Badge of Honor (1969)
• two medals "For Military Merit" ^[4]
• other Soviet medals, three medals of Czechoslovakia , a medal of the NDP
• USSR State Prize (1970)
• Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1988)
• Honorary radio operator of the USSR (1964)
• Honorary citizen of the city of Yaremche, Ivano-Frankivsk region .

Official representations about assigning I.V. Meshcheryakov the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for the deeds accomplished during the war years remained unanswered. In 1998, on behalf of the so-called Permanent Presidium of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, he was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union", but it is not legitimate.

I. V. Meshcheryakov became the prototype of the junior lieutenant Meshchersky, the main character of the military novel E. Kazakevich " Star " ^[5] . In addition, his military exploits are described in the books “Glory Do Not Fade” and “Soldiers of the 20th Century” ^[1] .

• Military Encyclopedic Dictionary of Strategic Missile Forces / Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation; Ch. Ed .: I. D. Sergeev , V. N. Yakovlev , N. E. Solovtsov . - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia , 1999 .-- 632 p. - 8500 copies. - ISBN 5-85270-315-X . . - S. 288-289.

• Meshcheryakov, Ivan Vasilievich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• I.V. Meshcheryakov on the website of the International Joint Biographical Center
• I.V. Meshcheryakov on the site wwii-soldat.narod.ru
• Senchukov Yu. Power is left without a crown. Interview with I.V. Meshcheryakov. 2001.