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Zare said:
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Sputnik is one badass looking rocket.
 
Perun said:
Sputnik is one badass looking rocket.
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Yeah, the Korolev aesthetic is really nice. The N-1's (soviet moonshot rocket) first stage (the grey bottom thing) also looks quite 70's vintage SF.

But there's a functional drawback here, they look nice because they're pretty monolithic because Soviets didn't do (didn't knew how to do) standardized modular things and component by component testing. The N-1 failed 4 times but had there been fifth attempt the consensus goes it wouldn't be a failure. Had they know how to test all components separately and then mount them on it probably wouldn't fail all initial attempts of launch.

NASA did this and that's why their Lunar program was much more successful to put it mildly.
 
Zare said:
Yeah, the Korolev aesthetic is really nice. The N-1's (soviet moonshot rocket) first stage (the grey bottom thing) also looks quite 70's vintage SF.

But there's a functional drawback here, they look nice because they're pretty monolithic because Soviets didn't do (didn't knew how to do) standardized modular things and component by component testing. The N-1 failed 4 times but had there been fifth attempt the consensus goes it wouldn't be a failure. Had they know how to test all components separately and then mount them on it probably wouldn't fail all initial attempts of launch.

NASA did this and that's why their Lunar program was much more successful to put it mildly.
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The Saturn V was a beast, too. No critical failures, built in redundancy, survived lightning strikes (Apollo 12) and failed engines (Apollo 13). One of the finest rockets ever used for manned ascent, beloved by the astronauts for it's comfort (comparable to the Titan II).
 
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