The history of the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engenering Documentation (RGANTD) began in 1974 when the Ordinance of the Government of April 30 decreed setting up the Center for National Archiving Space Documentation (CNACD). This was a unique National archive featuring varied documents pertinent to the history of the National rocket and space engineering. The center was addressing the tasks of selecting and managing the National document archive engaged in scientific research on the physics and chemical mechanisms to protect documents and to automate document handling.
CNACD repositories comprised documents of participating agencies engaged in space research, publications in mass media on the topic of space, personal documents of cosmonauts and specialists in the rocket and space industry as well as recollections of scientists and engineers.
The year of 1995 was marked by merging the Center for National Archiving Space Documentation with the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engenering Documentation in Samara resulting in setting up the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engeneringl Documentation. In addition
RGANTD comprised the Microfilm and Document Restoration Laboratory (MFDRL) which was working with documents stored in other Federal Archives. Back in 2016, Samara RGANTD was assigned the status of independent archive.
RGANTD has dedicated storage facilities equipped with special cabinets and racks. It features an automatic temperature and moisture control systems, security and fire alarms. RGANTD has as many as 700,000+ files stored including the following: research and development documentation, personal documents, films, photo documents, audio files.
More than 500 organizations operate as acquisition sources. The archive is also active in acquiring personal papers.
The Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engenering Documentation is following tradition of protecting and expanding the documentary heritage of citizens, society and the government running operations in innovative manner.
Today, RGANTD is a leader among the federal archives in the area of developing and implementing modern information technologies. Specifically, it is: