The Secret Moon Base America Never Found

The Soviet Union’s Secret Moon Project: The Ambition to Dominate Space

In 1962, the Soviet Union launched a top-secret project with the ambition of establishing a self-sustaining lunar base before the Americans. This project was code-named Zvezda (meaning “Star”), aiming to claim the Moon and mark a monumental step in the space race.

According to the plan, Zvezda would consist of multiple habitation modules partially buried under the Moon’s regolith to shield against radiation and meteorites. Some modules were even designed to move across the surface using specially engineered wheeled chassis.

However, the project quickly hit a dead end when the N1 program—the rocket system designed to transport these modules—suffered multiple failures. With no viable alternative launch vehicle, the project stalled indefinitely.

The U.S. and the Race to the Moon

After World War II, tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union escalated, not only in the nuclear arms race but also in space exploration. The Soviet Union made a stunning leap forward by successfully launching Sputnik 1 into orbit in 1957, dealing a psychological blow to the Americans.

In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower dissolved the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and established NASA in 1958, officially placing the U.S. in the space race. Under John F. Kennedy’s leadership, the U.S. poured massive resources into the Apollo program, aiming to land humans on the Moon before the end of the 1960s.

At the same time, the Soviet Union had its own plans. Soviet scientists believed that building a lunar base was entirely feasible.

The Soviet Moon Dream

In 1967, under the leadership of Sergey Korolev—the brilliant mind behind the Soviet space program—detailed plans for a Moon outpost were outlined. By 1969, the KBOM design bureau proposed a plan called “Principles for the Construction of a Long-Term Lunar Settlement”, which divided the project into three phases.

Initially, the base would accommodate just four people, but once fully developed, it would expand to house 12, including astronomy research labs, living quarters, an energy control center, storage facilities, and even a gym.

However, everything depended on the N1 rocket—the only vehicle capable of transporting the necessary modules to the Moon. Unfortunately, after multiple test failures, the N1 program was canceled in 1974, leading to the collapse of the Soviet lunar base project.

The Final Attempt with Project Veszda

Despite the failure of the N1 program, the Soviet Union was not ready to abandon its Moon ambitions. In 1974, Valentin Glushko—the new head of Energia Corporation—proposed an alternative plan called Veszda.

This time, the Soviets intended to use the Vulkan rocket, capable of carrying 60 tons into lunar orbit and delivering 22 tons to the surface. The base would include:

• LEK lander: Used for Moon landings, takeoffs, and returns to Earth.
• Research module: A physics and biotechnology lab with an oxygen generation system.
• Lunokhod rover: Capable of moving at 5 km/h with a 200 km operational range.

The construction was planned in three phases, requiring five Vulkan rocket launches.

The End of the Moon Dream

Despite its ambitions, by the late 1970s, the Soviet government realized that the U.S. had abandoned plans for a permanent Moon base after the Apollo program. They decided to scrap Veszda and shift focus to the Buran space shuttle, aimed at competing with the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

It was estimated that the lunar base project would cost $80 billion (equivalent to hundreds of billions in today’s dollars), a price far too steep for the Soviet economy at the time.

However, Russia’s Moon ambitions have not disappeared. By the late 2010s, Roscosmos—the Russian Federal Space Agency—began studying the possibility of building a lunar base in the future.

Will this dream finally come true? Only time will tell.