The Fate of the Soviet Super Heavy

50 years ago, a rocket with 30 engines failed. It did not fail because it had too many engines.

The upcoming SpaceX Starship vehicle requires a large booster, called “Super Heavy”, in order to reach Earth orbit. This will when it is completed be the largest rocket stage ever flown, and has 33 Raptor engines at its base.

Critics of this system have made unfavourable comparisons with the N-1 - the Soviet answer to the Saturn V that was to have placed cosmonauts on the Moon. That rocket had 30 NK-15 engines on its first stage, and its 4 test flights between 1969 and 1972 all ended in failure before the first stage burn had completed.