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Moon Race

N1 ICBM

N1

Launch complex for N1

N1 No. 5L launch

Block A

Block B

Block V (named after the third letter in the Russian alphabet) served as the third stage of the N1 launch vehicle, completing the booster section of the rocket required to reach an initial orbit around the Earth with the L3 lunar expeditionary complex or any other potential payload.

Previous chapter: Block B (Stage II) of the N1 rocket

Known specifications of the Block V (Stage II) of the N1 rocket:

The third stage of the N1 rocket sat on the top of the truss adapter of the Block B second stage and structurally largely represented a scaled down version of the second stage.

From bottom to top, Block V consisted of an aft section, a four-engine cluster with four NK-19 engines, a structural ring, an oxidizer tank, a conical inter-tank adapter, a fuel tank and a conical adapter interfacing with the fourth stage (Block G). The aft section consisted of three segments, which were designed to split and fall off the third stage immediately after the separation of the second stage.

In the original design, the mass of the fueled Block V was 150 tons, however after the project had been reconsidered in 1962 to increase payload, the third stage had to accommodate more propellant and its mass grew up to 185 tons. Extra fuel added 70 seconds to the engine burn, bringing the total operation time for Block V during orbital ascent to 370 seconds. The combined thrust of the propulsion system in vacuum increased from 160.8 tons to 163 tons.

The larger oxidizer tank, with a diameter of 6.06 meters and a volume of 98.6 cubic meters, rested on the main structural ring through 48 thermally insulated attachments to reduce the boiling of the cryogenically cooled liquid oxygen inside. At the bottom of the tank, there were four intakes for oxidizer supply lines, each leading to four NK-19 (11D53) engines. The stage was reported to have a propellant consumption rate of 0.581 tons per second. (120)

The conical intertank compartment sat on top of the structural ring and held a smaller kerosene tank with a diameter of 4.88 meters and a volume of 61.6 cubic meters with the help of 24 attachments. On its exterior, the inter-tank structure had four bypass lines routing propellant around the oxidizer tank into the engines.

By 1970, OKB-276 had developed the NK-39 (11D113) engine variant to replace NK-19 on Block V, but it never had a chance to fly.

The third stage of the N1 rocket was expected to double as the second stage of the N11 rocket and as the first stage of the N111 rocket, but neither of them were ever built.

Booster stage of the N1 rocket being prepared for integration with the L3 complex on the transporter-erector system.

Next chapter: The fourth stage (Block G) of the N1 rocket (under construction)

Page author: Anatoly Zak; last update: March 28, 2025

Page editor: Alain Chabot; last edit: March 26, 2025

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A fully integrated Block V (Stage III) of the N1 rocket likely intended for the 1M1 prototype.

The kerosene tank of Block V.

Block V integrated with the booster stages of the N1 rocket in Tyuratam.