On May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stood before a special joint session of Congress and announced the ambitious goal to land an American on the Moon before the decade’s end. That same month, the Soviet Union began sketching plans for a super heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of carrying payloads beyond low Earth orbit. Initially conceived to deliver ultra-heavy nuclear weapons such as the Tsar Bomb, the design’s focus soon shifted toward the Moon, aligning Soviet ambitions with those of their Cold War rival.
The result was the N1, one of the largest and most powerful rockets ever conceived, intended to supersede the ICBM-derived launchers then in service. Beyond its military applications, the N1 was intended to launch Soviet cosmonauts to the moon, Mars, and huge space stations into orbit.
A mockup of the N1 rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in late 1967. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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