Russian moon program

[Balamut]

USA lunar module Soviet lunar module
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Development

In December 1964, Korolev's team completed a preliminary design of the N1-L3 complex. It envisioned the launch of a two-man spacecraft by a single N1 rocket and the landing of one cosmonaut on the surface of the Moon. The expert comission led by Mastislav Keldush evaluated the project, and on February 10, 1965, the plan for the development of the L3 system was officially approved.


N-1 Rocket
N1-L3 system overview
Total length 105 meters
Maximum diameter 17 meters
Liftoff mass 2,825 tons
Dry mass 281 tons
Total mass of liquid oxygen oxidizer (Block A, B and C combined) 1,780 tons
Total mass of kerosene fuel (Block A, B and C combined) 680 tons
Liftoff trust 4,500 tons
Total payload weight to low-Earth orbit, LEO 82 tons
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At the beginning of the 1960s, the OKB-1 design bureau led by Sergei Korolev started work on a super-heavy rocket booster, later designated N1. Originally proposed as a multipurpose vehicle for a variety of military and scientific tasks, the N1 evolved into a project with a single mission -- to beat America to the Moon. However, the N-1's catastrophic failures during four test launches in 1969-1972 doomed the Soviet effort to land a man on the Moon and left the ill-fated rocket under a veil of secrecy for decades.

N1 test launches:

Feb. 21, 1969: The first test launch of the N-1 rocket (Vehicle No. 3L) failed 68.7 seconds after liftoff.

July 3, 1969: The second test launch of the N-1 rocket (Vehicle No. 5L) failed immediately after liftoff.

June 27, 1971: The third launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 6L) failed at 50.1 seconds after liftoff from the left pad of the Site 110 in Baikonur.

Nov. 23, 1972: The fourth launch of the N1 rocket (Vehicle No. 7L) failed about 107 seconds after liftoff.







[Edited by Balamut on 30th May 2003 at 21:01]