WORLD’S FIRST GUNPOWDER MISSILE SYSTEM

In 1815-17, the Ukrainian engineer and Russian artillery general Oleksandr Zasyadko (born in 1779 in the village of Lyutenka, Poltava region) designed several types of gunpowder missiles that had the flight distance four times greater that any foreign equivalent. He also invented a missile launcher platform that allowed firing in salvos (6 missiles at a time) in combat conditions for the first time in history. Zasyadko pioneered tactics of using missiles in combat, created the first missile factory in the Russian Empire and founded the Higher Artillery School. In Ukrainian and Russian armies, he is widely considered as the founder of the missile artillery forces as a separate military unit. One of the craters on the far side of the Moon was named after Zasyadko, honoring his achievements in artillery engineering as well as mathematical calculations of Lunar expeditions using rockets.