[FPSPACE] Could non-human life forms have been on that 1969 N-1launch?

[NOdin at aol.com]

In a message dated 8-8-2004 3:53:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
svengrahn at telia.com writes:
But why were the T2K flights to test the lunar lander carried out 
one-and-a-half years later (Kosmos-379, -398, -434)? I do not think the LK 
was ready for 5L...

Sven
You are probably correct, Sven, and tests were conducted as you cite.  
However, the enormous pressure to put a Soviet man on the lunar surface may have 
caused all kinds of short cuts to be taken.  With the loss of the race to the 
Moon, the whole program took a back seat -- Acad. Keldysh said in October 1969 
that there was no longer a timetable for manned lunar exploration, but that they 
would concentrate on a space station (paraphrased from memory).  At an AIAA 
conference/meeting in Washington, D.C., a Soviet speaker tried to explain that 
enormous political pressure saying that if N-1 did not beat Apollo to the 
lunar surface, then the whole worth of Soviet lunar exploration was considered a 
total loss.  He thought they tried to launch cosmonauts on an N-1 -- I have the 
tape of his speech, but not the brief conversation I had with him following 
the meeting.  (I cannot recall his name or the exact date, at the moment -- the 
tape is in California and I am just leaving Maryland.  But, he's one of those 
who helped form some of my wild theories.)

Cheers to all,
My new grandson is calling me ...

Ed "N1" Cameron
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