Background and Objectives: The publication reveals the pages of the history of rocketry and space research in the USSR and Russia on the example of the work biography by Elvira Alexandrovna Lukyanova. After graduating from the Faculty of Physics of Saratov University (1953), she worked for 60 years in the experimental design bureau OKB-1 of S.P. Korolev and in research and production structures subsequently formed on its basis. Elvira A. Lukyanova participated in the design and experimental development of the first artificial Earth satellite (Sputnik), the Vostok spacecraft, on which on April 12, 1961. Yu. A. Gagarin performed the world’s first space flight, the warheads of launch vehicles 8K11, 8K11FM, 8K51, 8K71; in the design, bench and flight design tests of the N1 launch vehicle (according to the L3 lunar program) and the Energia-Buran reusable space transport system; in the design, bench and flight design tests of oxygen-hydrogen upper stages C and SR, upper stages DM (according to the lunar programs L1, L3), DM-SL (according to the Sea Launch program), DM-SLB (under the Ground Launch program). Materials and Methods: When writing the article, official documents and informational materials of S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, memoirs and materials of Elvira A. Lukyanova’s home archive were used. Conclusion: The pioneering role of the USSR and Russia in space activities is reflected from the position of a direct participant in the legendary events of the 1950s – 2010s. An emotional uplift was noted, caused in the mood of people by the successes of the first domestic space projects.