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{{Infobox military person
|name=Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin
|image=MI Nedelin 01.jpg
| image_size = 250px
|caption=
|birth_date=November 9, 1902
|death_date= {{death date and age|1960|10|24|1902|11|9|df=y}}
|birth_place=[[Borisoglebsk]], [[Voronezh Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_place=[[Baikonur Cosmodrome]], [[Kazakh SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
|placeofburial=[[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
|placeofburial_label=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|Soviet Union}}
|branch=[[Artillery]], [[Strategic Rocket Forces]]
|serviceyears= 1920 — 1960
|rank= [[Chief marshal of the artillery]]
|unit=
|commands=13th Artillery Regiment (1939-40) Artillery 160th Rifle Division (1940-41) 4th Anti-Tank Brigade (1941) Artillery 18th Army (1941) Artillery 37th Army (1941-43) Artillery 56th Army (1943) V Artillery Corps (1943) Artillery South-Western Front (1943) Artillery 3rd Ukrainian Front (1943-45) Artillery Southern Soviet Group of Forces (1945-46) Chief Artillery Directorate (1948-50) CinC Artillery (1950-52, 1953-55) Deputy Minister of War (1952-53) Deputy Minister of Defence (1955-60) CinC [[Strategic Rocket Forces|Strategic Missile Force]] (1959-60)
|battles=[[Russian Civil War]], [[Spanish Civil War]],{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} [[Winter War]],{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} [[World War II]]
|awards=[[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}

'''Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin''' ({{lang-ru|Митрофа́н Ива́нович Неде́лин}}) (November 9, 1902 — October 24, 1960) was a [[Soviet]] military commander who served as [[Chief marshal of the branch|Chief Marshal of the Artillery]] in the [[Soviet Armed Forces]]. A long-time member of the [[Red Army]], Nedelin was a veteran of numerous wars and was honored as a [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] for his service during the [[Second World War]]. On May 8, 1959, Nedelin was promoted to Chief Marshal of the Artillery, and became an important figure in the development of [[ICBMs]] and the [[Space Race]]. On October 24, 1960, Nedelin was killed in an explosion at [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] during the eponymous [[Nedelin catastrophe]].

== Early life ==
Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin was born on November 9, 1902, in [[Borisoglebsk]], [[Voronezh Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]].

== Military career ==
Nedelin joined the [[Red Army]] in 1920, aged 18, and fought as a volunteer in the [[Russian Civil War]] until its conclusion in 1923. The following year he joined the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], and was [[conscripted]] back into the Red Army, becoming an [[artillery]] commander.<ref name = Khruschev-817>''Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, Volume 2, Reformer 1945-64'', by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev and Sergeĭ Khrushchev, pub Penn State Press, 2006, ISBN 0-271-02861-0, p817.</ref> From 1937 to 1939, Nedelin fought in the [[Spanish Civil War]] as a [[foreign volunteer]] for the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican Government]], and the same year was appointed to command 13th Artillery Regiment in the Soviet Red Army.<ref name= generals.dk>[http://www.generals.dk/general/Nedelin/Mitrofan_Ivanovich/Soviet_Union.html The Generals of WWII – ''Nedelin'']</ref> In 1940 he was appointed to command the artillery of 160th Rifle Division after returning from [[Spain]], and participated in the [[Winter War]] until 1940.<ref name= generals.dk/>

In 1941, after the Soviet Union entered [[World War Two]], Nedelin was appointed commander of first 4th Anti-Tank Brigade, then the artillery of 18th Army, and then the artillery of 37th Army where he stayed until 1943, before being moved to command the artillery of 56th Army.<ref name= generals.dk/><ref name= generals.dk/><ref name= generals.dk/><ref name= generals.dk/> In 1943, he was appointed Deputy Commanding Officer of the artillery of the [[Northern Caucasian Front]].<ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/> From there Nedelin moved to command the V Artillery Corps, and then the artillery of the south-western front, and then the artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front where he stayed from 1943 to 1945, playing an especially important part in the capture of [[Hungary]].<ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/><ref name= generals.dk/><ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/> In 1945, Nedelin became assistant commanding officer and then the commanding officer of the artillery of the [[Southern Group of Forces|Soviet Southern Group of Forces]].<ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/>

In 1946, after the end of the Second World War, Nedelin became chief of staff of the chief artillery directorate of the [[Soviet Army]], and then chief of staff of artillery, and then deputy commander in chief of artillery. In 1948, he became head of the chief artillery directorate of the Soviet Army before becoming commander in chief of artillery from 1950 to 1952, and after a brief period as Deputy Minister of War, returned as commander in chief of artillery from 1953 to 1955.<ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/> From 1955, he was Deputy Minister of Defence, and concurrently from 1959 commander in chief of the [[Strategic Missile Force]].<ref name = Khruschev-817/><ref name= generals.dk/>

== Space ==
During the [[Cold War]], Nedelin inadvertently played a key role in ushering in the [[Space Age]] by concluding that rockets were the ideal means to deliver a [[nuclear warhead]] to the [[United States]] instead of [[bombers]], and ordered [[Sergei Korolev]] to develop the massive [[R-7 (missile)|R-7]] [[ICBM]] capable of carrying a large warhead to the United States. This rocket and its derivatives, while never an effective ICBM, was powerful enough to launch [[Sputnik]], the world's first [[satellite|artificial Earth satellite]], and then [[Vostok (spacecraft)|Vostok]] manned space vehicles into orbit. These accomplishment allowed the Soviet Union to beat the United States on being the first nation to enter [[space]], and taking a leading position during the early [[Space Race]].

== Death ==
On October 24, 1960, Nedelin, along with approximately 120 other individuals, were killed in a test rocket explosion at [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]. The incident became known as the [[Nedelin catastrophe]], named after Nedelin due to being its most notable victim, and was covered up by the authorities. Nedelin's death was officially listed as having occurred in a [[plane crash]] until the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] in the 1990s uncovered the incident.

Nedelin was buried in a tomb in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]] at [[Red Square]] in [[Moscow]].
{|
|
|}
== Honours and awards ==
{|
|-
|[[File:Hero_of_the_Soviet_Union_medal.png|20px]]
|[[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
|-
|[[File:Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Lenin|Five Orders of Lenin]]
|-
|[[File:Order of Red Banner ribbon bar.png|60px]]
|[[Order of the Red Banner|Four Orders of the Red Banner]]
|-
|[[File:Order suvorov1 rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Suvorov|Order of Suvorov 1st class]]
|-
|[[File:Order_kutuzov1_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Kutuzov|Order of Kutuzov 1st class]]
|-
|[[File:Order_bogdan_khmelnitsky1_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union)|Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st class]]
|-
|[[File:Order_gpw1_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of the Patriotic War|Order of the Patriotic War 1st class]]
|-
|[[File:Order_badge_of_honor_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Order of the Badge of Honour]]
|-
|[[File:Defcaucasus_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"]]
|-
|[[File:Orderglory rib.png|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]
|-
|[[File:CaptureOfViennaRibbon.png|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"]]
|-
|[[File:Capturekoenigsberg_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg"]]
|-
|[[File:Capturebudapest_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Capture of Budapest"]]
|-
|[[File:20_years_saf_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"]]
|-
|[[File:30_years_saf_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"]]
|-
|[[File:40_years_saf_rib.png|60px]]
|[[Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"]]
|-
|}

== In other media ==
* Marshall Nedellin appears as a character in the 2005 BBC docudrama TV series, ''[[Space Race (TV series)|Space Race]]''. He is played by English actor [[Tim Woodward]].
* [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/r16_disaster.html Nedelin Disaster] // RussianSpaceWeb.com {{ref-en}}

==References==
<references />

== Further reading ==
* [http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/chertok/kniga-1/01.html "Rockets and people"] – [[Boris Chertok|B. E. Chertok]], M: "mechanical engineering", 1999. ISBN 5-217-02942-0 {{ref-ru}};
* J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", [[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]], 1994, ISBN 5-02-000822-2;
* "Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts - [[Arkady Ostashev|A.I. Ostashev]], [[Korolyov, Moscow Oblast|Korolyov]], 2001.[http://cosmosravelin.narod.ru/r-space/bibliografia.html];
* «A breakthrough in space» - Konstantin Vasilyevich Gerchik, M: LLC "Veles", 1994, - ISBN 5-87955-001-X;
* "Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer" - Rjazhsky A. A., 2004, SC. first, the publishing house of the "Heroes of the Fatherland" ISBN 5-91017-018-X.
* [[Arkady Ostashev|A.I. Ostashev]], ''Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov - The Genius of the 20th Century'' — 2010 M. of Public Educational Institution of Higher Professional Training MGUL ISBN 978-5-8135-0510-2.
* "Unknown Baikonur" - edited by B. I. Posysaeva, M.: "globe", 2001. ISBN 5-8155-0051-8
* "Rocket and space feat Baikonur" - Vladimir Порошков, the "Patriot" publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3
* "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., [[Kiev]], 2014., publishing house "Phoenix", ISBN 978-966-136-169-9

==External links==
{{commonscat-inline}}
* [http://www.famhist.ru/famhist/chertok/00417bee.htm#003508d4.htm Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin ]//Family history
* [http://www.mk.ru/incident/2015/10/29/katastrofa-na-baykonure-pochemu-pogibli-124-cheloveka-vo-glave-s-marshalom.html The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets ] // The disaster at Baikonur {{ref-ru}}
* [http://www.baikonuradm.ru/index.php?mod=all/news&ID=4004 The official website of the city administration Baikonur] // Baikonur commemorated a test rocket and space technology.{{ref-ru}}
* [http://www.baikonuradm.ru/index.php?mod=180 The official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nedelin, Mitrofan Ivanovich}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]
[[Category:Russian military leaders]]
[[Category:Baikonur Cosmodrome]]
[[Category:Honorary citizens of Baikonur]]
[[Category:People from Borisoglebsk]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Courage]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour]]

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