When Soviet engineers launched the N1 moon rocket from Baikonur in July 1969, it climbed about 200 metres before falling back onto Site 110 and exploding with an estimated seven kilotons of energy, destroying a launch pad in a disaster the USSR kept hidden for two decades

When Soviet engineers launched the N1 moon rocket from Baikonur in July 1969, it climbed about 200 metres before falling back onto Site 110 and exploding with an estimated seven kilotons of energy, destroying a launch pad in a disaster the USSR kept hidden for two decades

On July 3, 1969, at 23:18 Moscow time, the Soviet Union’s N1 moon rocket lifted off from Site 110 at Baikonur, climbed roughly 200 metres, tilted, and fell back onto the launch complex it had just left. At Baikonur, local time had already crossed into July 4. The explosion that followed destroyed the pad and is often described as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever produced by human engineering, with energy estimates around seven kilotons…