Info and pictures of Soviet Moon program

I'm surprised nobody started this thread before. I did make a search but found nothing similar.

A few most important facts:
Glasnost revealed that the Soviet Moon program was going on in the 1960s. It was composed of N1 Moon rocket, LOK (Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl) orbital vehicle and LK (Lunniy Korabl) lander. They were all designed by Sergei Korolyov. The LOK and LK proved to be very well designed in tests made in LEO. The problem was N1. Korolyov died in 1966 when N1 wasn't completed yet. Other designers weren't able to complete the project good enough and all 4 test flights of N1 ended in disaster. If they weren't, Soviets would send the first astronaut on Moon by mid-1968 (they would beat americans again).

I'm interested what else (not what is written on Wikipedia and I didn't tell) you know/is known about Soviet Moon program. Does anyone have any (rare) pictures??

Cheers

Check out this original Russian page. Even if you don't read Russian, a few pics thre are interesting:

www.buran.ru...

The N-1 had many, many rocket engines in its propulsion system. In opinion of some experts, this greatly increased the risk of a failure in that system that was already staggeringly complex.

reply to post by sovietman


Hi sovietman: buddhasystem already provided a good link, here ya go for the images,
www.mentallandscape.com...
peace,
Internos...

reply to post by sovietman


The Russians also had some big plans for a lunar base. You can read about it here. It´s a really interesting read.

reply to post by internos


What an excellent link! I like it how they packaged the long "plug" of lunar soil into a plastic tube like a sausage, so that they could wind it up in a compact spiral for transport back to earth... Genius.

Thanks a lot all of you.

buddhasystem: I know many smaller rocket engines are worst than a few bigger, but I didn't know that was the problem. But you have to acknowledge that it looked fantastic (like in sci-fi films) when N1 lifted off. It was just one BIIIG flame coming out of the rear of the rocket .

Keep posting...

Originally posted by sovietman
buddhasystem: I know many smaller rocket engines are worst than a few bigger, but I didn't know that was the problem.

The first series of problems they had, was due to vibrations destroying various components in the file supply system. Extrapolating from pogo oscillations in the US program, I can speculate that these were at least partially due to complex oscillation modes in such a monstrous system.

It is remarkable that they oftentimes experienced a failure of a component like a pump, or an occasional busted pipe, which must have been extensively tested before launch... When you have 1200 tons of thrust and it begins to oscillate, methings it's no good.

I'm sure you all saw those videos on YouTube, but I'll post anyway:

1969: A documentary on space race parts 1-6.

Apollo program parts 1-8. I think there are 2 mistakes. One in the first video when it says Saturn V is tho most powerful rocket ever built. N1 was more powerful, but Saturn V could carry more payload. Second mistake is in 3rd part where it says Armstrong prepared his speech (it's a small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind) only a few hours earlier. I think he didn't prepare it, but just told it.

Those years were definitely one of the most glorious in the history of mankind.

[snip]


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[edit on 5-2-2008 by elevatedone]

[edit on 5-2-2008 by elevatedone]