The BOK was formed as part of TsAGI (Tsentrahl'nyy Aerodinamicheskiy i Ghidrodinamicheskiy Institoot- central aerodynamics and hydrodynamics institute) on the orders of the Soviet Revolutionary Military Council in Dec 1930.

One of the first tasks of BOK was to design and build the hermetically sealed gondola of the SSSR-1 high-altitude balloon.

The BOK was then assigned the task of applying the 'hermetic' cabin to an aircraft with the Tupolev RD chosen as the basis of the BOK-1.

A sealed 1.8 m3 cylindrical cabin constructed from 1.8–2 mm (0.071–0.079 in) D1 light alloy was fitted to a modified RD airframe.

With the cabin structure sealed, cabin air was dumped overboard at a controlled rate through a dump valve and replaced with oxygen, from storage bottles, maintaining oxygen levels roughly constant.