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The N1 Moon Rocket

It Wasn't Just A Moon Race

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N-1/L-3 7L

Nine or ten Soviet Super Boosters, designated N-1 (N Odin, pronounced N oh-deen according to the OXFORD Russian Dictionary), were built at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The N-1 Moon Rocket was launched only four times between February 1969 and November 1972, each launch ending in catastrophic failure.

The above photograph (here, with the sky digitally cleaned and scratches removed) shows an N-1 on launch pad #2. Based upon its configuration, this N-1 photo, with the Moon just overhead in the south-eastern sky, was probably taken in November 1972, and is most likely of vehicle 7L, the last N-1 to be launched. Though far less likely, if it is not 7L, it would be a later photo of either 8L or 9L, and could have been taken as late as 1974. It was given to me, Ed Cameron, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in July 1992, from the personal slide collection of Energiya Foreign Affairs Officer, Boris M. Lokhmatchev. The slide was thought to be the first unretouched photo of an N-1 on the pad to be published in the west (Aviation Week & Space Technology, 9 November 1992, pg 65). However, that turns out to be west of the Atlantic Ocean, only. I have learned that a few other N-1 photos were printed earlier in both German and British works. A photo of 3L on the pad was featured in the article, "First Untouched N-1 Picture" (photo credit given to Den Lebedev) in SPACEFLIGHT, Vol 34, pg 79, March 1992. The first televised video of the N-1 was in a Soviet TV documentary celebrating the 30th anniversary of manned space flight, "The Secret Life of S.P. Korolyev." The two pictures from that documentary, an L3 Lunar Kabin and N-1 5L on the transporter/erector, were captured by Jakob Terweij and published first in the March 1991 issue of "Flug Revue," a German publication. That same 5L photo, along with one of the 3L launch, were also in SPACEFLIGHT, Vol 33, pg 188, June 1991.

Each of the launched N-1 vehicles can be distinguished, by a combination of the paint scheme, or structural modifications, or the time of launch, day or night. The following list indicates the characteristics used to distinguish launch vehicles (Baikonur Dates and Times given):

LV# Characteristics

1L* Pad Checkout/Handling Test Vehicle (No LET on shroud)

2L* Pad Checkout/Handling Test Vehicle (No LET on shroud)

3L Launched 690221 15:18:07 from pad #1; the circumlunar-type payload, L-1, was substituted for the L-3 LOK and LK; dark paint on Blocks A, B, and half of V (dark green or gray); failed at about 70 seconds after launch.

4L* Damaged, never launched; cannibalized for parts.

5L Launched 690704 02:18:32 from pad #1; the only night launch; L-3 lunar landing payload; about 1/4 of the Block A, B and V stack painted dark (green or gray); engine failure began 0.24 second before liftoff, the engines were shut down and 5L fell back onto the pad; the explosion destroyed pad #1.

6L Launched 710627 05:15:07 from pad #2; unknown payload, but stated to be lunar related; Salyut 1 cosmonauts told to watch or photograph the early morning launch, paint scheme possibly similar to 5L; the payload folded during Max Q (at launch plus ~51 seconds).

7L Launched 721123 12:11:52 from pad #2; L-3 type shroud and/or payload; all white paint; modified aft skirt and pointed external oxidizer line fairings; KORD shut down Block A engines at 107 seconds, just 7 seconds before programmed second stage (Block B) ignition; ballistic impact downrange.

8L* Built and was probably the N-1 seen during pad testing after the 7L flight, but never launched.

9L* Built, but never launched and may never have been on pad.

10L* May not have been completed, as were up to three others in the VAB (MKS).

*Note: All remaining N-1 launch vehicles and components not flown were ordered destroyed by Glushko after the program was cancelled in 1976. Thankfully, not all was destroyed.