Moon Rockets: The Saturn V and the Soviet N-1 Rockets

Conspiracy theorists often point to the Soviets as a sort of compass in order to explain Moon hoax theories. They will cite the radiation levels, and the less-than-eager approach that the Soviets took toward sending men to the Moon. The Soviets did have plans to go to the Moon, though. Their main problem in getting there, however, was with their rocket technology.

The American rocket that took Apollo Astronauts to the Moon was called the Saturn V. The Saturn V produced 7.6 million pounds of thrust initially; thus, it made moon exploration possible. Remember, probes are small and can be launched with smaller rockets. Moon landers, men, life support systems, and scientific equipment require almost exponential leaps in the amount of thrust required to deliver them safely to the Moon. To send men to the Moon, you simply need a bigger rocket.

The Soviets tried to develop a rocket called the N-1, which would produce 10 million pounds of thrust. While the Saturn V used 5 initial engines, the N-1 used 30. The engines had to be fired simultaneously in order to minimize thrust imbalances, and because of this, the N-1 proved to be very unreliable. Many N-1 rockets exploded after liftoff, crashing into launchpads and destroying buildings in the process.

The poor design of the N-1 rocket effectually halted Soviet plans for a manned mission to the Moon, but let us not forget that Soviet technology had been somewhat superior to US technology during the early 1960s. The N-1 failed, in large part, because the Soviets were thinking too far ahead of the game. It turns out that the Soviets never went to the Moon because they simply had too many plans on the table. If the N-1 rocket had been a success, then missions to Mars and beyond would have been within the grasp of Cosmonauts. So, the Soviets were not exactly behind the Americans in the space race, per se, but they were a bit too far ahead.

What does all this tell us about conspiracy theories? Well, it reminds us that the Americans may have indeed achieved their Lunar landings with technology that paled in comparison to what the Soviets had. Though the Americans may have lacked technology, they did have money and resources to throw at NASA. Many supporters of the Moon hoax suggest that NASA could never have made the leaps and bounds in technology necessary to land men on the Moon, and often point to the superiority of the Russians and their own inability to land men on the Moon; however, what these theorists don't realize, is that the Russians simply blundered the entire Moon project with the N-1. They had wanted to go far beyond the moon, to Mars. Their high technology turned out to be their downfall.

When the US first began designing rockets for space exploration in the 1950s, they failed over 100 times. There are many videos of rockets exploding in the air and on American launchpads. Throughout the space race, it was American perseverence, not technology, that would ultimately prevail. Of this, one cannot argue. The Russians could not boast of any such perseverence. The N-1 was only launched a handful of times, and upon its ultimate failure, the entire Soviet Moon agenda was scrapped.