Passage: Kerim Kerimov, 85

Kerimov, a rocket expert and founding father of the Soviet space program, lived most of his career in obscurity because the state kept his identity a closely guarded secret. He only became known to the Soviet public in 1987, when Pravda mentioned him during then-President Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign for openness. Kerimov, who held the rank of lieutenant-general in the air force, helped develop missiles during World War II before becoming part of the team that would astonish the world by putting the first satellite into orbit (Sputnik, 1957) and man into space (Yuri Gagarin, 1961).