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The N1 Moon rocket At the end of the 1950s, the OKB-1 design bureau led by Sergei Korolev began development of a super-heavy rocket booster, later designated N1. Originally, it was proposed as a multipurpose vehicle for a variety of military and scientific tasks, including launches of space stations, expeditions to the Moon and even a potential human missions to Mars. In its early incarnation, the giant rocket was expected to deliver 75 tons of payload to the low Earth orbit.
N1/L3 system overview (111):
The N1 project was ultimately approved by the Kremlin for a single mission -- to beat America to the Moon. To accomplish this task, the rocket's design was upgraded to carry a payload of 95 tons, while still on the drawing board, which was considered to be enough for the L3 expeditionary complex with a crew of two and only one cosmonaut landing on the Moon. Subsequently, the rocket was expected to be upgraded with hydrogen upper stages (INSIDER CONTENT), so it could support two-launch expedition scenario developed for the L3M expeditionary complex delivering three cosmonauts to the Moon. Many other upgrades of the N1 rocket were considered over the years for such projects as the 5M Mars sample return and the Zevs mission to Jupiter. (INSIDER CONTENT) However, the N1's catastrophic failures during four test launches on Feb. 21 and July 3, 1969, June 27, 1971, and Nov. 23, 1972, doomed the Soviet effort to land a man on the Moon and left the ill-fated rocket under a veil of secrecy for almost two decades. The nearly completed fifth flight vehicle (N1 No. 8L) (INSIDER CONTENT) was expected to fly at the end of 1974, but the entire Soviet lunar program was cancelled in May of that year. Test launches of the N1 rocket Feb. 21, 1969: The first test launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 3L) carrying a 7K-L1A (7K-L1S) spacecraft failed 68.7 seconds after liftoff from Site 110 in Tyuratam.
July 3, 1969: The second test launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 5L) carrying a 7K-L1A (7K-L1S) spacecraft failed at liftoff from Site 110 in Tyuratam.
June 27, 1971: The third launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 6L) carrying dummy LOK and LK spacecraft failed at 50.1 seconds after liftoff from the left pad at Site 110 in Tyuratam.
Nov. 23, 1972: The fourth launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 7L) carrying an operational LOK spacecraft and a mockup of the LK lunar module failed about 107 seconds after liftoff from Site 110 in Tyuratam.
Overview of proposed upgrades to the N1 family:
Major contractors in the N1 poject:
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