On July 3, 1969, an unthinkable event unfolded at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, as the Soviet N1 rocket, a colossal machine designed to send astronauts to the moon, exploded with unprecedented ...

The fourth and final unsuccessful N1 launch, in 1972, also resulted in a massive explosion, this time from a phenomenon known as pogo oscillation.Pogo oscillation is exactly what it sounds like ...

Krechet Soviet moon suit N1 compared to Saturn V moon rocket. The N1 is slightly smaller and was designed to carry a maximum payload of 90 tons vs 120 tons, but it had higher thrust.

In the next several years, N1 made two more unsuccessful (though not as devastating) launch attempts before the Soviet government shut down the program in June 1974.

On July 3, 1969, the Soviet Zond L1S-2 was getting ready to head into space when disaster struck. For a few moments, the craft lifted into the night sky. Then, it exploded.

The Starship's many engines are isolated from each other, preventing the risk of one engine failure causing failure of all as in the case of the Soviet Union's N1 rocket, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said ...