N1

N1, Soviet launch vehicle. In the early 1960s, Soviet designers began work on the N1, which was originally designed to undertake journeys that would require true heavy-lift capability (that is, the ability to lift more than 80,000 kg [176,000 pounds] to low Earth orbit). When the Soviet Union in 1964 decided to race the United States to a first lunar landing, that became the sole mission for the N1. The N1 was a five-stage vehicle....