Anatoliy Daron

Daron was born in Odesa, Ukraine to a Jewish family. When he was 12, his family fled Odesa to Kislovodsk during World War II to escape the advance of the Romanian Army. ^[1]

In 1948, Daron graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, specializing in liquid propellant for rockets. He became the lead engineer of the liquid propellant rocket engines of the Experimental Design Bureau No. 456 (OKB-456). He developed the RD-107 and RD-108 for the R-7, providing the Soviet Union with ICBM capability.^[2]

Daron's engines were also used for the Sputnik rocket and for all Soviet Union piloted spacecraft; Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz.^[2] In 1957, he was also part of the Soviet nuclear program.^[1]

In 1998, the Russian Federation permitted Daron to go to the United States for heart surgery. He stayed there for the rest of his life.^[1]