Space Rocket History #176 – The First Test Flight of the Soviet N1

Finally, on the morning of February 21, all the population of the N1 assembly area and a residential area, situated just south of the launch pad, was ordered to evacuate. The giant service structure then rolled away leaving the dark-gray rocket with a white payload fairing towering under sunny skies. The weather was extremely cold, with temperatures falling to minus 44 C degrees, and stormy winds. In the fortified firing control room, the Commander of the 6th Directorate, took the firing command position at the main periscope…

Apollo CSM/LM vs. Soviet L3 Complex. Credit Mark Wade

N1 image taken by US KH-8 Reconnaissance satellite

N1 on the launch pad

2 thoughts on “Space Rocket History #176 – The First Test Flight of the Soviet N1”

Another excellent as usual pod cast Michael! Did you know that engines that were produced for the N1 were still in use up to a few years ago? They were used on Orbital Science’s Antares rocket that flew from Wallops resupplying the ISS until its last spectacular failure in 2014.

You can see a full documentary on how Aerojet discovered these in storage and brought them to the US market in 2000 with “The rockets that came in from the cold” on You Tube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyBan_LTjvM