Today in History: 1969 Soviet N1 rocket explodes just after launch off at Baikonur Cosmodrome
July 1969 was the most dramatic month in space history, and not only because it marked the first time humans ever set foot on the Moon. On July 3, just a few weeks before Apollo 11 made its momentous landing, the apocalyptic launchpad detonation of the Soviet N1 rocket further dashed the USSR’s own ambitions for manned lunar landings.
Releasing nearly as much energy as a nuclear bomb, it was the largest rocket explosion in history, according to space historian Anatoly Zak. See the pyrotechnics for yourself with this footage of the blast.
Here’s another view:
It must have been horribly demoralizing for Soviet space officials, who had pinned all their Moon landing hopes on the N1, to see the vehicle literally blow up in their faces mere weeks before the United States celebrated the Eagle’s landing.
“Today…I saw without exaggeration the end of the world, and not in a nightmare but while fully awake and standing right next to it,” said eyewitness Lieutenant Colonel Semen Komarovsky.
Though no fatalities were reported, the blazing inferno completely leveled the launchpad at Site 110 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Rocket debris was hurtled as far as ten kilometers from the blast epicenter, and windows of the surrounding communities were shattered as far as 40 kilometers distant.
What’s even crazier is that the blast could have inflicted much more damage, but fortunately, only the first stage ignited as the rocket crashed back down on the launchpad. A subsequent investigation concluded that the accident was sparked by a malfunctioning turbopump within N1 engine number 8. Officials speculated that a piece of foreign debris may have been sucked into the pump, prompting it to jam and explode.
The July 3 explosion set the N1 Moon rocket project back for two years, and the immensity of the damage was what first tipped off the US to their rivals’ lunar efforts. After the next two launches in June 1971 and November 1972 also ended in flames, the Soviet crewed Moon landing program was abandoned, though the badass design of the N1 will live on forever.
Read more of this story here Watch the Largest Rocket Explosion in History (vice.com)
Also on this day:
324 Battle of Adrianople: Roman Emperor Constantine I defeats his co-emperor Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
1767 Norway’s oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date)
1844 The last pair of Great Auks is killed
1861 Pony Express arrives in San Francisco with overland letters from NY
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, largest battle ever fought on the American continent, ends in a major victory for the Union during the US Civil War
1886 In Germany, Karl Benz first drives the first automobile in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph)
1913 Common tern banded in Maine; found dead in 1919 in Africa (1st bird known to have crossed the Atlantic)
1920 Royal Air Force holds an air display at Hendon, England
1928 Harry Ferguson granted a patent for his three-point hitch for tractors
1928 John Logie Baird demonstrates the first colour television transmission in London
1929 Dunlop Latex Development Laboratories made foam rubber
1930 US Veterans Administration created
1938 President Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield
1939 Ernst Heinkel demonstrates 800 kph (500 mph) rocket plane (He176) to Adolf Hitler
1985 “Back to the Future” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd is released
1996 UK House of Commons announces that the Stone of Scone, aka the Stone of Destiny, used in the coronation of Scottish (and subsequently English and British monarchs), will be returned to Scotland after 700 years in Westminster Abbey
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1987 Sebastien Vettel - German auto racer (World Formula 1 Drivers Champion 2010-13 Red Bull Racing), born in Heppenheim, Hesse, Germany
1964 Yeardley Smith - French-born American actress (Lisa Simpson-The Simpsons), born in Paris
1961 Vince Clarke [Martin] - British rock keyboardist, and songwriter (Depeche Mode; Yazoo; Erasure), born in South Woodford, Essex, England
1923 Sue Ryder - Baroness Ryder of Warsaw & Cavendish, British volunteer with Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, Charity founder (Sue Ryder) born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England (d. 2000)
1883 Franz Kafka - Czech author (Metamorphosis, Trial, Amerika), born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (d. 924)
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2001 Delia Derbyshire - English musician and composer (Doctor Who theme, White Noise), dies of renal failure at 64
1971 Jim Morrison - American singer-songwriter (The Doors) and poet, dies of heart failure allegedly caused be an accidental heroin overdose at 27
1969 Brian Jones - British blues and rock guitarist, organist and sitar player (Rolling Stones, 1962-69), drowns in his swimming pool at 27
1965 Trigger - horse (Roy Rogers), dies at 25
1672 Francis Willughby - English ornithologist and ichthyologist, dies at 36
Holidays on this day
American Redneck Day
Compliment Your Mirror Day
Disobedience Day
Eat Beans Day
International Plastic Bag Free Day
National Chocolate Wafer Day
National Fried Clam Day
National Independent Beer Run Day
Stay Out of the Sun Day
The Funnies:
Interesting (not necessarily extinct) animal of the day:
One of Earth’s earliest four-footed land animals couldn’t walk, a new 3-D model suggests.
Instead, the dog-size Ichthyostega likely flopped on land, using only two of its four stubby legs for locomotion.
One of our most distant ancestors, Ichthyostega is also one of the earliest tetrapods known to have crept onto land.
Until recently, researchers thought the creature squiggled across the mud on all fours like a salamander. But the first 3-D digital reconstructions of Ichthyostega’s skeleton suggest its forearms couldn’t twist and turn enough to enable a four-legged gait.
The model also suggests that the creature’s hind legs barely touched the ground. At best, they may have propped up Ichthyostega’s rump as the animal flopped around like a modern-day mudskipper fish.
Source: Evolutionary Flop: Early 4-Footed Land Animal Was No Walker? (nationalgeographic.com)
Quote of the Day:
I bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork.
― Groucho Marx – At the circus (1939)
Video of the Day:
Video of the day is a montage of all the different versions of the Doctor Who theme tune, in memory of Delia Derbyshire. Which is your favourite?
As a bonus, here’s a short video about how Delia created the theme…
Comic of the Day:
Credit: #326; In which the Day is seized – Wondermark
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
Read @Vikingmichael’s pear controlling Spark! from yesterday https://community.spiceworks.com/t/spark-pro-series-2-july-2024. Don’t forget to leave some spice right here ↓
