Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Moscow-based producer of spacecraft and space-launch systems
The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (Государственный космический научно-производственный центр (ГКНПЦ) имени М. В. Хру́ничева in Russian) is a Moscow-based manufacturer of spacecraft and space-launch systems, including the Proton and Rokot rockets, and the Russian modules of Mir and the International Space Station.
The company's history dates back to 1916, when an automobile factory was established at Fili, western suburb of Moscow. It soon switched production to airplanes and during World War II produced Ilyushin Il-4 and Tupolev Tu-2 bombers. A design bureau, OKB-23, was added to the company in 1951. In 1959, the company started developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and later spacecraft and space launch vehicles. The company designed and produced all Soviet space stations, including Mir.
OKB-23, renamed to Salyut Design Bureau, became an independent company in 1988. In 1993, the Khrunichev Plant and the Salyut Design Bureau were joined again to form Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. In the 1990s, the company entered the International Launch Services joint-venture to market launches on its Proton rocket. Khrunichev subsequently became a successful launch service provider on the international space launch market.
The public source identifies “Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center” as moscow-based producer of spacecraft and space-launch systems. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Khrunichev, State and Research.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1197016. VIAF identifies the subject as 293156028. The Library of Congress control number is n2012078486. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 1951, 1959 and 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.