The N-1 Moon Rocket - Features

N-1 - a brief History.

There are entire books devoted to the Soviet moonshot, so this will at best be a brief overview. See the LINKS page for more information.


Sergei Korolev.	Korolev with Yuri Gagarin.	Sergei Pavelovich Korolev.

Sergei Korolev

It was originally designed by the brilliant Sergei Pavelovich Korolev, known in the west merely as ‘The Chief Designer’. From the very earliest days of the Soviet space program, he pushed for a seriously heavy lift vehicle. The N-1 was intended to be the Soviet answer to the Saturn V, a heavy lift booster that would be capable of lifting very heavy loads into orbit, from where they could go to the Moon or even Mars. Development work started on the N-1 in 1959.

Korolev was responsible for almost all the space ‘firsts’ achieved by the Soviet Union, first artificial satellite, first living create in space, first manned space flight, first spacewalk, first rendezvous in space.

However a lot of these exploits were done under extreme pressure, notably from Khrushchev, who was more interested in one-upmanship over the Americans than a sustained space program. He also wanted rockets that would work as missiles to carry nuclear warheads, robust enough to be of use to the military.

On top of his supreme technical skills, Korolev was also regarded as an extremely effective organiser, with a strong ability to enthuse others with his passion for space flight.

Unfortunately for the soviet moon program, the chief designer of engines, Glushko and Korolev had a relationship bordering on hatred. In the time of Stalin’s terror, each had denounced the other to the notorious NKDV. And Korolev had spent several years in appalling conditions in a Siberian Gulag as a result. Korolev also consider Glushko’s willingness to use toxic fuel as irresponsible.

The N-1 engines are a fascinating story in their own right. The toxic fuels favoured by Glushko are less efficient that the kerosene / liquid oxygen favoured by Korolev, but they have the big advantage of being hypergolic – they ignite on contact, which simplifies the combustion system.

Korolev decided to use engines designed by Kuznetsov, despite his relative lack of experience with rocket engines, (though he was a very sucessful jet engine designer). The NK-15 engine was the result, and it’s relatively small size and power led directly to the N-1’s distinctive large number of engines.

The base of the N-1 showing the 30 NK-15 engines.

The engine was in fact a remarkably advanced design, and was intended to gain additional power from the deliberately fuel rich exhaust, mixing with air taken in from near the top of the first stage, and coming out by the inner engines.

The NK-15 was the basis for the NK-33 later, and the NK-15V, (a version optimised for higher altitudes) was the basis for the NK-43. Note that the NK-15V is sometimes seen written as the NK-15B, because the Cyrillic letter “B” is pronounced “V”.

The engines are still in use, and being considered for new projects today
See the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-33


The NK-33 Engine	The NK-33 engine

Remaining NK-43 engines

The real source of trouble was the complex plumbing that fed the 30 engines in the first stage, and the KORD system that controlled it. The KORD system was also intended to spot problem engines and shut them down – the N-1 could still achieve orbit by burning longer on the remaining engines, even if 4 were out of action.

This, combined with the lack of funds for comprehensive testing was in my view the most important factor in the ultimate failure of the N-1 program.

Korolev died in 1966 before the program could be completed, and many also consider his untimely death to be key factor in the overall failure of the moon program. His replacement, Mishin, initially did not want the job, somewhat daunted by the scale of the task. There are reports of him developing a serious alcohol problem at this time. When Gagarin died in 1968, morale fell to an all time low.

(Gagarin was back on flight training at this point, though Alexei Leonov was the prime candidate to be first man on the moon, not least because of his proven space walk experience – he was the first man to walk in space.)


Yuri Gagarin, in Vostok 1.	Alexei Leonov, (left).

The western security forces were aware of the existence of the N-1 program, and from its scale correctly concluded that it was suitable as the backbone of lunar missions. They were unaware of the under funding and bickering that was crippling the program, and given the large number of space records set by the soviet union in the early sixties, they were understandably nervous.

The overall design of the mission was broadly similar to the Apollo program - a large booster, launching a pair of craft into Earth Orbit, from where they went to the Moon. In the case of the N1-L3 mission, the lander was a one man craft, and the cosmonaut made his way in via a spacewalk from the specially adapted Soyuz capsule.

The N-1 rocket in the factory, all three stages being assembled.

The N1-3L being erected on the pad at Baikonur.

There were four attempts to launch an N-1 rocket, each ending in an explosion with complete destruction of the craft. (Details below taken from Wikipedia)

•    February 21, 1969: Exploded at 12,200 m altitude, 69 seconds after lift-off.

•    July 3, 1969: At lift-off a loose bolt was ingested into a fuel pump, which failed. After detecting the inoperative fuel pump, the automatic engine control shut off 29 of 30 engines, which caused the rocket to stall. The rocket exploded 23 seconds after shutting off the engines, destroying the rocket and launch tower in the biggest explosion in the history of rocketry.

•    June 24, 1971: Vehicle serial number 6L - experienced an uncontrolled roll immediately after lift-off beyond the capability of the control system to compensate; the vehicle was destroyed 51 seconds after lift-off at 1 km altitude.

•    November 22, 1972: Vehicle serial number 7L - the engines ran for 106.93 seconds after which Pogo oscillation of the first stage caused engine cut off at 40 km altitude; a programmed shutdown of some of the engines to prevent over-stressing of the structure led to an explosion of engine number 4. The vehicle disintegrated.


Valentin Petrovich Glushko	Vasili Pavlovich Mishin	Kuznetsov, with one of the N-1 first stage engines.

The program was finally cancelled in 1974, when Korolev’s old enemy Glushko got control of the program.

At the time of cancellation two N-1s (more specifically N1-F’s), were being readied for launch with high hopes that the previous problems had been solved, but Glushko had them destroyed.

Links:

People:


N-1 Top	N-1 History	N-1 Features	Launch site	My Model	N-1 Galleries	N-1 Links

All rendered graphics © Nick Stevens. You may use the in-line illustrations on your own web pages, provided that you give me a credit, and provide a link back to my N-1 home page. Very high resolution versions of all rendered images, and animations, are available for a fee. Contact Nick Stevens at the e-mail address below for details.

Thanks & Credits

These web pages would not have been possible without the help of many people who provided information, and pointed me the right way. Many run web sites which are listed in the LINKS section.

My particular thanks go to the people hanging out in the IAAA mailing list, the space modelers list, the forums at Novosti Kosmonavtiki, and specifically:

Pjotr Druzinin for tirelessy coping with my computer translated Russian, and dumb questions!
Alexander Schliadinsky for permission to use his excellent diagrams, aalso tireless advice via computer translation.

If you found this page interesting, you may also like to see some of my other pages on this web site - please explore the links on the buttons below to see more of my pages:

The N-1 Moon Rocket - Features

N-1 - a brief History.

Links:

People:

Wikipedia, Sergei Korelov

Wikipedia, Valentin Glushko:

Wikipedia, Vasily Mishin

Wikipedia, Alexei Leonov

Wikipedia, Yuri Gagarin

Thanks & Credits