The N1 rocket was the Soviet counterpart to the US Saturn V. Development started in 1959.
Its first stage is the most powerful rocket stage ever built. Because of its technical difficulties and lack of funding for full-up testing the N1 never completed a test flight.
All four uncrewed launches out of 12 planned tests ended in failure, each before first-stage separation.
The first test launch took place in February 21, 1969. The launch started well, the rocket cleared the pad and began ascending. But then there was a fire in the rocket, followed by an explosion. Metallic debris had caught inside an engine. About 1 minute into the flight, the rocket exploded 40km from the launch site.
The second launch took place in July 3, 1969. Learning from the first failure, the engines control system was improved for this flight. Seconds after takeoff, the rocket fell back onto the pad. Exploding with a force of a small nuclear bomb. It was the largest rocket explosion in history being visible that evening up to 35 kilometres away. While the debris were still being scraped up from the floor of the Kazakh desert, the race was over: the US launched Apollo 11. But the Soviets didn't give up.
The third launch took place in June 26, 1971. Soon after lift-off the N1 experienced an uncontrolled roll beyond the capability of the control system to compensate. At T+39 seconds the vehicle disintegrated from structural loads.
The fourth and last launch took place in November 23, 1972. At about T+90 seconds into flight, a fire started in the boattail of the booster and engine #4 exploded. The first stage broke up at T=107 seconds.
After the series of catastrophic failures, the Soviet program were eventually brought to an end.
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