Soviet Launches At Star City Complex
(http://bruce.org.uk/images/2xN1_on_pad.jpg)
The NASA and the Soviet space exploration programs had similar objectives but it seems the race to win in space completely polarised the two nations' viewpoints on Health & Safety.
Would NASA ever place two giant heavy-load lifting rockets in such close proximity to each other for a launch sequence? Would NASA ever have two of these behemoths upright and linked into their launch platforms in readiness to launch like you see above? No way. Not in a million years!
But the Soviets did and to be fair their disregard for white lab coats, distance from explosion policy and clean room assembly process added a touch of dangerous excitement to proceedings. And I bet that viewing the launch of the N1 rocket versus the clinical NASA style launches would have had me and millions of other TV viewers more spellbound with the other N1 lurking so closely in the background as a backdrop to the explosive spectacle taking place upfront on the TV screen.
What if there was a catastrophic failure before clearing the launch tower? Would the other N1 be impacted and explode too?
Perhaps the discipline and clinical approach brought to the Soviet program by the Peenemunde scientists in 1945 died with the last of von Braun's team. The lack of regard for the safety of the crew on board the N1 rocket appears to be of little concern. Shameful.
NASA is clinical. Rightly so and thankfully they vigorously uphold their safety measures. There is risk involved with every launch of a manned spacecraft. There always will be. I for one would be petrified at having to share the Soyuz transport to the ISS which the Shuttle retirement has now forced on all nations with a space program.