The soviet manned lunar program N1-L3

The conquest of space was marked by the Moon race in which the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were engaged in the 1960s. On the American side, the Apollo program culminated with the Man on the Moon in July 1969, 50 years ago. At the same time, the Soviet Union carried out a similar program which was kept secret for 20 years. This N1-L3 program was unveiled in August 1989. Its goal was to arrive on the Moon before the Americans. It included an original super-rocket, development of which began in June 1960. But this program became a national priority only in August 1964 and the super-rocket failed four times between 1969 and 1972. This article analyses the reasons for these failures, which led to the cancellation of the program in 1974.