Group for the Study of Reactive Motion

The Moscow-based Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (also known as the Group for the Investigation of Reactive Engines and Reactive Flight or Jet Propulsion Study Group; Russian: Группа изучения реактивного движения, Gruppa izucheniya reaktivnogo dvizheniya), abbreviated as GIRD (ГИРД), was a Soviet research bureau founded in 1931 to study various aspects of rocketry. GIRD launched the first Soviet liquid propellant rocket in August 1933. In November 1933 it was incorporated into the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (Реактивный научно-исследовательский институт, Reaktivnyy nauchno-issledovatel’skiy institut, РНИИ, RNII).