Peculiarities of archival information resources legal regulation in the field of research on the development of the rocket and space industry

Abstract

It has been noted that in the course of military events on the territory of Ukraine, where the Russian Federation has fired thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles, killing thousands of Ukrainians, interest in the topic of rocket and space technology has increased significantly. The interest of the Ukrainian population in information about the possibilities for the development of the rocket and space industry in Ukraine and its position in the global space services market has grown especially. One of the fundamental problems in the study of the historical development of the rocket and space industry is the closed nature of archival information resources due to the fact that the vast majority of these material carriers of information have access restrictions and are stored in the archival departments of the development organisations, while other documents that lose their technical relevance are destroyed.

It has been noted that the List of topics whose scientific and technical documentation is to be included in the National Archival Fond and transferred to state storage contains very little information on rocket and space issues. An important source in the field of rocket and space activities is the museum collections of organisations where certain equipment was developed and produced. Another important source of information is interviews with direct participants in the development of rocket and space technology, i.e. oral sources of information. First-hand details of the formation and development of rocket and space technology provide a lot of valuable information, and it is advisable to use the practice of “oral sources of information” as long as it is possible.

The possibility of granting such oral sources of information the status of an official document in the legal field has been considered. An emphasis is placed on the need to verify the reliability of information obtained from interviews, which is carried out through an examination of the value of such information. In addition, the need to guarantee the preservation of oral sources of information on rocket and space activities in the archives of Ukraine and ensure their availability for use by the public of today and future generations has been stressed.