Energia

The Energia (or Energiya) rocket was a Soviet craft that was designed to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. It had the capacity to place 80,000 kilograms in low Earth orbit, although it could be configured for heavier payloads comparable to the Saturn V. It was first test-launched alone in 1987, and with an unmanned Buran orbiter in 1988.

The cancelled N-1 Manned Lunar Launch Vehicle Facilities and Infrastructure were used for Energiya. The N-1 was capable of putting 95 metric tonnes into LEO and was powered by 30 Kuznetzov NK-15 engines developing 154 tonnes thrust each for a total of 4620 tonnes of thrust (10.2 million pounds), thus far exceeding the US-Saturn V at 3750 tonnes (7.5 million pounds) lift-off thrust.

Production of Energia rockets ended with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Buran shuttle project.

The company S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia is still in business.

Shuttle Buran on a Energiya booster rocket