Alpaidze, Galaktion Yeliseyevich

Georgian-Russian officer. Lieutenant General, Chief of the Plesetsk launch center, 1963-1975.

Commanded an artillery regiment on the Ukrainian Front in World War II. Distinguished himself in the tank battle at Lake Balaton, Hungary in March 1945. For this action, in which he was heavily wounded, he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union. Alpaidze joined the rocket forces in 1959, first as Deputy Chief of the Kapustin Yar launch site. He was put in charge of developing the R-7 Angara missile set near Plesetsk into a full-fledged space launch center on Soviet territory in 1963. He was commander of the center until his retirement in 1975.