N-1: the big soviet booster

N-1

ESPAÑOL

The N-1 rocket was the Soviet counterpart of the American Saturn-V, both having almost the same size. With this rocket, the Soviets tried to beat the U.S. in the Moon race first, and then put huge space stations into orbit. There were four launches, two in 1969, and other two in 1972: all of them failed.
Causes: development delays, few tests, lack of funds, internal struggles between Korolyov (main designer)and his rivals (Chelomei and Glushko), the sudden death of Korolyov and general coordination problems. Chelomei wanted to build its own super booster (the UR 700) using Glushko's RD 270 engines, which made use of storable propelants, whereas Korolyov advocated for Kerosene/Lox engines.
For many years its existence was top secret: the USSR claimed they never tried to put a man on the Moon, and many people in the west even denied it was ever built. After the fourth and final failure, Glushko took control of the program and terminated it. He decided to build a new rocket: the Vulkan, later it became the Energiya super-booster, which only flew twice in the eighties.
N-1 data:
Total Mass: 2,682,650 kg.
Liftoff Thrust: 4,414,909 kgf.
Total Length: 76.6 m.
Total cost: $600 million
Engines:
First stage: 30 NK-15 (Lox/Kerosene). Thrust (vacuum): 1544kN.
Second stage: 8 NK-15V (lox/Kerosene). Thrust (vacuum): 1648 kN.
Third stage: 4 11D54 (Lox/Kerosene).
Fourth stage: 1 NK-19 (Lox/Kerosene).

Saturn V data:
Total Mass: 2,896,895 kg.
Liftoff Thrust: 3,440,313 kgf.
Total Length: 84.7 m.
Total cost: $681.50 million

N-1 3L (maybe 1L or 2L) on pad.

N-1 first stage assembly.

N-1 rocket serial 7L, ready for launch on pad number 2, November 1972, (last launch of the N-1).
(Photo courtesy Ed Cameron).

The N-1 and Saturn-5 together at the same scale.Photo from the National Air and Space Museum.

N-1 variants. The white color of the last models was due to thermal control.
Author: Peter Always.

Above: N-1 5L rollout, 1969.Below: N-1 3L being located on pad. Fall 1968.

NK-15V second stage engines. The N-1 clustered a lot of those engines (30 in the first stage and 8 in the second).
This augmented design complexity and failure probability. Furthermore, no tests of the entire stages were conducted,with all the engines working at the same time. The use of a larger engine was impossible, because Glushko, who was the most experienced rocket engine builder, refused to colaborate with Korolyov, so he had to use a non experienced builder like Kuznetzov.

N-1 7L on pad. The last N-1 had a modified first stage,
including more aerodynamical fuel conducts' fairings.

N-1/3L shroud. Inside was the L3 complex: the LOK spacecraft, the LK lunar lander,
the Block-D lunar crasher stage and the Block-G translunar injection stage.
Author: Peter Always.

N-1 5L night (the only one) launch.4 July 1969.

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