1969: N-1 (USSR)

[166john166]

0:16 kinder looks like boarder of Texas...lol man this good weed

[bestamerica]

'

i like america saturn V was the best great largest wonderful rocket in the world,,,

saturn V is better than ussr russia n-1

[blitsed]

Too bad the N1 used to explode pretty often, things would have been much more interesting with the soviets landing on Moon before or immediately after the US.

Anyway, I am not sure we really would have made all the way to Mars...that's really a long trip.

Today we still have a couple of problems to fix, like radiations exposure and all the medical troubles related to a long period spent in zero gravity enviroment.

In the 70s we were more optimistic, but I still think someone would have died.

[meronmotors]

if the soviets beat us to the moon we would never been able to take it. We would of probably died on the spot, they had already beat us to space, and man to space

[spacestevie2]

@meronmotors We probably would have had a more robust space program through the 1970's and completed our planned Manned Mars program and more complex Apollo flights to the moon with extended stays and so forth. There were serious plans for landing Man on Mars by 1983 and a manned Space Station by 1980. IF the Russians had landed on the moon first, then we would have spent the money on those programs for sure.

[kaderoder]

I see what went wrong..... Too much gravity!

[gforce527]

Too bad they couldn't see it through, Such a silky smooth liftoff! If the Russians had the means to pull off what Apollo did we would know WAY more about the moon and sooner......

[rapax22070]

to much engines..... that was the problem

[olentangy74]

Amazing in considering how big the thing was, it only generated 6 million lbs. of thrust versus the Saturn V which had 7.5 million. Too bad it did not work.

[MightySaturn5]

@olentangy74 ,actually I think that due to its 30 engines it was able to generate close to 10 million however it needed 30 engines to achieve this, of course the Saturns F-1 engines are still the most powerful single chambered engine made (only a nuclear explosion is louder then a Saturn take off),when combined with the high tech hydrogen engines used on the upper stages she was able to lift up to 270,000 lbs to earth orbit while the N-1 at its best would have only be able to loft 180,000 lbs.

[2007ASpaceOdyssey]

Neat looking rocket. But the soviets forgot one of the fundamental rules of rocketry, the less parts, the more likely you are to succeed.

[TonyFirelli]

@2007ASpaceOdyssey lol I notice your name from movie... anyway I guess your right because the more parts means you have more chances of 1 part failing or more and then the whole big rocket...

[Donmeister85]

The change in the music @ 2:16 is hilarious...

[Gary190tube]

whoops

[btardwannabe]

You're right, the Ares V would be the Saturn V equiv.

[viperjet9038]

Awsome rocket. Our group flew a 1/20 scale of the project. What did it in was the fact Korolov had no money for testing. One of the flights was done in by a loose bolt in a LOX line. Thirty engines was just way too much to control and any one knowing statistical probability would know the law of averages was against them. The Sov's knew about the F-1 of course but thought the engine was almost omposible not to mention the use of Hydrogen and oxygen in upper stages. and electronics issue..

[ftutbs]

that's why the saturns were so successful. only five rocket engines to control. much simpler design.

[gazakind]

@ftutbs its not the problem to control them

the problem was technical accident

[Alembic25]

Their engine designer Glushko (who is seen at the periscope in the video) refused to design large engines for the N1 as he felt a stable burn was too difficult to achieve due to unburned fuel exploding and causing shockwaves. This was a problem which dogged the US F1 engine. Kuznetsovs NK15 engine was used on the N1 and is now seen as a superb engine. As you say, 30 engines were tough to control but in my opinion it was do-able. It was poor funding and poor managment that killed the N1.

[MGR1900]

How fricken bizarre that nobody knew about this program.

[TurbineDogSevenFour]

Western Intelligence and military agencies knew about it at the time, was kind of hard to not notice it. But it was not a particularly big concern, and western propaganda was happy to use its own successes like Apollo for propaganda, rather than embarassing the Soviets.

[TheWhiteOwl23]

someone had to otherwise how was it built silly!

[MGR1900]

And when it failed they tried to hide it. Hmmm. It might have worked better had it built itself.

[adwasono]

Hi guys, let's rebuild the N-1 rocket again and send Russian cosmonaut to the moon, or maybe Richard Branson or other Crazy super rich people who wants some adventures to finance this project.

[kablamo9999]

Couldn't they have used multiple launches with Proton and Soyuz to land on the Moon?

[kablamo9999]

Some footage I've never seen before, thanks!

[Ozy797]

sorry dude, but the Saturn V remains the tallest rocket at an estimated 36 stories tall

[EAM2468]

The N-1 rocket was the biggest rocket ever. (35 flors high)

[RickyJ46]

Okay, then Saturn V is the tallest SUCCESSFUL rocket ever.

[MightySaturn5]

The Saturn V weighed more,had more overall power (hydrogen upper stages) was taller and could lift considerably more then the N-1.

[Ropponmatsu2]

Wow, I get to be first...

...All 30 NK-33 engines at 1:37 has to be one of the greatest sights of space exploration.

Thank you for posting this.

[MightySaturn5]

actually the 5 F-1's at the base of the Saturn V were louder, more intense and trailed a longer flame then the many small NK-33 engines of the N-1...nonetheless I do agree that it must have been a spectacle to see