Soviet N1/L3 Rocket

The N1 rocket was a Soviet launch rocket developed in the 1960s and 1970s for the purpose of launching manned missions to the Moon as part of the Soviet space program. It was designed to compete with the American Saturn V rocket in the lunar exploration race during the Cold War.

Development of the N1 began in 1959 and was overseen by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (now the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine) under Chief Engineer Sergei Korolev, who was also responsible for the development of the first Soviet rockets. The N1 was a multi-stage rocket, measuring around 105 meters in height and weighing more than 2,700 tons at liftoff.

The N1 was powered by a series of RD-170 and RD-171 engines powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen, as well as RD-0120 engines using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It had an estimated payload capacity of around 95 tons in low Earth orbit (LEO) and was designed to carry a modified Soyuz space capsule with crew to the Moon.

However, the N1 encountered many technical and development challenges, including design, reliability, and cost issues. She underwent four unmanned test flights between 1969 and 1972, but all failed, either during launch or during later flight phases. The N1 program was canceled in 1974 after repeated failures and high costs, ending Soviet aspirations to send cosmonauts to the Moon.

Despite its failure as a lunar launch vehicle, the N1 remains an iconic example of the ambition and complexity of space programs from the era of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and its development contributed to the advancement of space technology in the USSR.