Uralcryomash (part of Uralvagonzavod, Rostec Group) has published preliminary designs from 1971 for the creation of a ground-based cryogenic infrastructure for the Soviet manned lunar program N1-L3. The documents are made by hand — in watercolor and ink — and include diagrams of systems for storing, delivering, and refueling the N-1 launch vehicle with liquid hydrogen and oxygen of special purity.
Work on the technical assignment of OKB S. P. Korolev began in 1966. The development included pipelines on the service tower, intermediate tanks, docking units, mobile gasification units, and vacuum units. The equipment successfully passed tests at Baikonur in 1968–1969.
The project also considered replacing the kerosene-oxygen block "G" (NK-19 engine) with a hydrogen-oxygen 11D56 design by A. M. Isaev, and the L3 spacecraft was planned to be powered by electrochemical generators based on hydrogen and oxygen.
The original album was transferred to the Uralvagonzavod museum in Nizhny Tagil. The company plans to publish other declassified documents confirming the historical contribution of the USSR to space exploration.
Today, Uralcryomash supplies cryogenic equipment for the Vostochny Cosmodrome and cooperates with Roscosmos on ground refueling complexes.
