Author Topic: The CIA and the N-1 rocket  (Read 39013 times)

Offline Targeteer

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Re: The CIA and the N-1 rocket
« Reply #80 on: 01/17/2017 04:56 am »
Is this one of the referred to photos of the two N-1s on the pads at the same time?  The far one doesn't appear to have an abort system so it that the mockup?

http://www.popsci.com/this-rocket-failed-to-put-soviets-on-moon?con=TrueAnthem&dom=fb&src=SOC&utm_campaign=&utm_content=587d9ef7f6d7a10007d4470f&utm_medium=&utm_source=
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: The CIA and the N-1 rocket
« Reply #81 on: 01/17/2017 07:07 am »
Is this one of the referred to photos of the two N-1s on the pads at the same time?  The far one doesn't appear to have an abort system so it that the mockup?

http://www.popsci.com/this-rocket-failed-to-put-soviets-on-moon?con=TrueAnthem&dom=fb&src=SOC&utm_campaign=&utm_content=587d9ef7f6d7a10007d4470f&utm_medium=&utm_source=

Yes, these are the two N-1 rockets on the pad in late June 1969. This is the only time that two N-1 rockets were on the pad simultaneously.

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The CIA and the N-1 rocket
« Reply #82 on: 01/17/2017 08:43 pm »
Is this one of the referred to photos of the two N-1s on the pads at the same time?  The far one doesn't appear to have an abort system so it that the mockup?

Yes. So the chronology was:

-later May, 1969, the mockup was rolled out to the pad
-June 11, an American GAMBIT-3 satellite flies overhead, takes a wonderful photo of the mockup (the detail even from third generation copies is pretty amazing--on film it must have looked great)
-a little more than a week later, the operational vehicle is rolled out to the other pad, so two vehicles on two pads
-the mockup is then rolled back to the building
-July 3, the operational vehicle is launched, and blows up
-US intelligence services gather lots of evidence that something blew up
-initially, US intelligence services did not know what blew up, but a Proton seemed likely because Proton (then designated SL-12 by US intelligence) was blowing up a lot*
-very quickly US intelligence gets evidence that it was the big rocket (N-1) that blew up
-early August, an American CORONA satellite flies overhead, takes a photo showing the extensive damage


*One interesting question about this: did the June 11 photograph, which showed no launch escape system, clearly indicate that this was a mockup and not a flight vehicle to US intelligence services? Did they assume that the July 3 explosion was a Proton because they knew that the vehicle photographed a few months before was not a flight vehicle? I don't know. It's possible.


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