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, the second N1 moon rocket rose 200 metres before falling back onto its launch pad in Kazakhstan, releasing roughly seven kilotons of energy in what is widely cited as the largest non-nuclear explosion in human history — a disaster the Soviet Union refused to acknowledge for two decades. The post 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