The N-1 booster

The most ambitious (and talented) Soviet Chief Designer Sergei Korolev formulated the idea of a big space booster capable of delivering a man to the Moon – and even to Mars in late 1950s. The design of that booster, the N-1, was started before US President John F. Kennedy announced the American programme, later known as Apollo.

1963: The N-1 booster was designed to deliver 40-50 tonne manned spacecraft into space, then orbit and land on the Moon in 1967.

The plan served as confirmation of Korolev's endless and very aggressive attempts to reach the Moon with probes in the early 1960s.