Aleksei Mikhailovich Isaev (also Isayev; Russian: Алексе́й Миха́йлович Иса́ев; October 24, 1908, in Saint Petersburg – June 10, 1971, in Moscow) was a Russian rocket engineer.
Aleksei Isaev began work under Leonid Dushkin during World War II, on an experimental rocket-powered interceptor plane, the BI-1. In 1944 he formed his own design bureau to engineer liquid-propellant engines. After abandoning the heavy, complex and undercooled German engine designs, Russia´s principal engine designer Valentin Glushko turned to Isaev´s innovations: thin-walled copper combustion chambers backed by steel support, anti-oscillation baffle to prevent chugging, and the flat injector plate with mixing-swirling injectors. The latter was an enormous simplification of the "plumbing nightmare" of the V-2 engine, because it avoided the need for separate fuel lines to each sprayer. Staged combustion (Замкнутая схема) was first proposed by Alexey Isaev in 1949.
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