Ivanovsky graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1953. Designer-General
Sergei Korolev recruited him into the Soviet space program. Ivanovsky rose to chief designer at OKB-1, Korolev's design bureau. Among other things he was deputy principal designer of the first and second
Sputniks, principal designer of
Vostok manned spaceships, and creator of
space probes. Ivanovsky personally helped
Yuri Gagarin mount the gantry and climb into
Vostok 1 and helped rebolt the hatch after Gagarin complained that it had not been closed and sealed correctly. He was said to be the last person to shake Gagarin's hand before the Vostok 1 flight. Ivanovsky was the Recipient of the
Lenin Prize (1960) and
USSR State Prize