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Payload fairing of the L3 expeditionary complex
Because the lunar vehicles of the Soviet expeditionary complex and the two upper stages of the N1 had a much smaller diameter in comparison to the three booster stages of the rocket, the architecture of the complex included an oversized payload fairing enclosing the spacecraft and its space tugs.
A payload fairing of the L3 expeditionary complex without its the emergency escape system during final assembly in Tyuratam. The payload fairing of the L3 expeditionary complex covered the Block G and Block D upper stages, as well as the LK lunar lander and the LOK crew vehicle. The 22-ton fairing was topped with the Emergency Escape System, SAS. The fairing consisted of a conical section above and a cylindrical section below with a maximum diameter of 5.92 meters. In case of an emergency on the pad or early in flight, the top segment of the conical section could separate from the rest of the vehicle and carry the Descent Module and the Orbital Module and its crew with it, when pulled by the SAS rocket. Each section of the fairing was equipped with pairs of small solid motors — the 11D89 version of the engine was installed on the conical section of the fairing, while the 11D810 variant propelled the segments of the cylindrical section. These small motors fired for a few seconds at separation to push their respective segments away from the rocket during the nominal ascent to orbit. The solid motors for fairing separation were likely manufactured at the NII-125 (future FTsDT Soyuz) in Lyubertsy near Moscow. The payload fairing itself was the only element of the N1-L3 lunar expeditionary complex manufactured at the Khrunichev rocket and space plant, RKZ, in the Fili district of Moscow. According to the 1965 preliminary design of the N1 rocket, both the conical and then cylindrical section of the fairing would split into two sections and fall off immediately after the separation of the main SAS rockets, around 20 seconds into the operation of the second stage (Block B). They would fall back to the ground downrange from Tyuratam.
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