title: Plan Maximum
abstract: This chapter looks at Joseph Stalin's decision to put Lavrentiy Beria at the helm of the Soviet nuclear program as strategic weapon systems had become a priority. It notes the release of spacecraft designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev from exile in Kolyma and who was appointed head of the NII-88 Institute to develop the first intercontinental ballistic missile 8K71. It also describes the efforts invested in the development of critical technologies as the Soviet Union refused to waste its energy on 
journal: Oxford University Press eBooks