N1 rocket
in early July 1969. (NASA)
N1 or N-1 was the Soviet rocket intended to send Soviet astronauts to the moon, preferably ahead of the Americans. The Russian moon rocket program was first led by Sergei Korolev until his death in 1966 and later by Vasily Mishin. However, the project was not a success. The overall rocket system actually bore the designation N1-L3: N1 was the boost rocket, while the L3 was mounted on top for the trip to lunar orbit and, it was hoped, lunar landing. Incidentally, there is a great deal of confusion among Russian online sources as to whether it is N1-L3 (Russian: Н1-Л3) or N1-LZ (Russian: Н1-ЛЗ) because of the similarity of the Cyrillic letter for "Z" and the number "3". Sometimes both forms will be used within the same Russian website (or even the same article [1] [1]). However, English sources refer only to N1-L3, and it seems clear it is a number because there were lunar projects with code names from L1 to L5. [1]
The N1 was a massive rocket comparable to the American Saturn V. It was designed to send 95 tons of payload into LEO, and stood over 100 meters tall — easily the tallest Soviet launch vehicle ever produced. Unfortunately, it was also very complex in engine arrangement and propellant plumbing. In the rush to production, and to save money, its rocket motors (of which it carried 30, see photo) were never ground tested in combination, only as individual units. Because of this, the complex and destructive vibrational modes (which ripped apart propellant lines and turbines) as well as exhaust plume fluid dynamic problems (causing vehicle roll, vacuum cavitation, and other problems) were not discovered and worked out before flight. It is worth noting that the successful American Saturn V rocket had only five large (F-1) engines, rather than the 30 of the Russian design. As a result of its technical difficulties, the N1 never successfully flew. All four unmanned launches out of 12 planned test launches ended in failure, even before first-stage separation. The longest flight lasted only 107 seconds. Two test launches occurred in 1969, one in 1971 and the final one in 1972. The program was terminated in 1974 before a final test launch which the engineers believed would have been a success. The program was followed by the "Vulkan" concept for a huge Proton like hypergolic fueled vehicle, and then in 1976 by the commencement of the Energia/Buran program. The program left behind a large stockpile of advanced liquid oxygen/kerosene engines (the NK-33) which are rugged and reliable as a standalone unit whose design was largely perfected before the cancellation. These survived the Russian leaders order of a cover-up which was supposed to include complete hardware destruction. The U.S. company Kistler Aerospace Corporation continues to work on incorporating these engines into a new rocket design, with which Kistler seeks to eventually become able to offer commercial launch services. Launch history:
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