N1-L3 (7L)
N1-L3 (7L) — the fourth and last launch of the Soviet N1 Moon rocket (23 November 1972), carrying a real 7K-LOK lunar orbiter meant to circle the Moon for 3.7 days and photograph landing sites. At 90 seconds six of its 30 engines shut down, a liquid-oxygen line failed, and 107 seconds after liftoff the first stage blew apart; the escape system carried the spacecraft clear. (Shown at its launch complex, Site 110 at Baikonur.)
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- TsKBEM (USSR)
- Launched
- November 23, 1972
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.998 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 7,472,208 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.277 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
The N1 was the Soviet Union's Moon rocket, built to launch the L3 expedition — an orbiter, the 7K-LOK, and a lander that would have put a cosmonaut on the Moon. Its first stage had 30 engines. It was launched four times, from Site 110 at Baikonur, and failed every time. The fourth launch, vehicle 7L, lifted off on 23 November 1972 carrying a fully equipped 7K-LOK, meant to circle the Moon for 3.7 days on 42 orbits and photograph landing sites. At 90 seconds six of the first stage's engines shut down, a liquid-oxygen line failed and a fire started; at 107 seconds the bottom of the first stage blew apart. The escape system pulled the spacecraft clear, and the rocket was destroyed about 40 km up. The cause was never settled: some blamed an engine failure, others the shock of shutting the six engines down. It was the N1's last flight, and with it ended any Soviet hope of sending cosmonauts to the Moon. The map marks the launch complex; the rocket itself broke apart downrange.
- 1972The fourth N1 lifts offLaunch
Carrying a 7K-LOK lunar orbiter meant to circle the Moon for 3.7 days.
- 1972Destroyed 107 seconds into flightMission end
The first stage blows apart; the escape system carries the spacecraft clear.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image