[2] Chelomey was born to a Ukrainian family[3] in Siedlce, Lublin Governorate, Russian Empire (now Poland).

At the age of three months, his family fled to Poltava, Ukraine, when the Eastern Front of World War I came close to Siedlce.

[2] From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, Chelomey worked at the Baranov Central Institute of Aviation Motor Building (TsIAM) in Moscow, where he created the first Soviet pulsating air jet engine in 1942, independently of similar contemporary developments in Nazi Germany.

On 9 October 1944, following a decision by the USSR State Defense Committee and People's Commissar for Aviation Industry Alexey Shakhurin, Chelomey was appointed the Director and Chief Designer of Plant N51 (its previous director Nikolay Polikarpov having died a short time before).

Chelomey continued his scientific research, earning a doctorate in science from Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School.

[4] On 3 August 1964 the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted and signed Decree #655-268 On Work on Research on the Moon and Outer Space, which redefined Chelomey's and Korolev's roles in the space program: Korolev was now responsible for development of the N1, which was chosen to accomplish a crewed lunar landing, while Chelomei was assigned to the development of the UR-500 which was chosen to perform a crewed circumlunar flight.

[7] Although it was never used to send cosmonauts to the Moon as Chelomey had hoped, Proton became the staple heavy lift launch vehicle of the Soviet/Russian fleet and would be used over the years for planetary probes, space stations, geosynchronous satellites, and more.

Unlike earlier satellites, Chelomey's Polyot-1 (1963) and Polyot-2 (1964) were equipped with an propulsion bus which enabled them to change their orbits.

Chelomey died in Moscow on 8 December 1984 at the age of 70, suffering a fatal stroke while on the phone with his wife.