Saturn V vs SLS, Starship and the N1

Updated October 19, 2026 · 5 min read

Compared with NASA's SLS, the Saturn V is taller (110.6 m vs about 98 m) and lifts more to low Earth orbit (about 140 t vs 95 t), but the SLS produces roughly 15% more thrust at liftoff (about 39 MN vs 34.5 MN). In the Saturn V vs Starship matchup, SpaceX's rocket surpasses both in height, mass and thrust, and is designed to be fully reusable. The Soviet N1, the Saturn V's historical rival, never completed a successful flight.

Comparison table

Starship figures are indicative only: SpaceX keeps changing the vehicle (stretched stages, new Raptor versions), and its specifications continue to evolve from one version to the next.

What the numbers really measure

Liftoff thrust is eye-catching but incomplete. The SLS gets much of its thrust from two solid rocket boosters derived from the Space Shuttle's, which burn for about two minutes. The Saturn V drew nearly all its power from five kerosene-fueled F-1 engines.

Payload is hard to compare across rockets. The roughly 140 t often quoted for the Saturn V is the mass placed in parking orbit, counting the partly fueled S-IVB third stage and the Apollo spacecraft. What mattered for Apollo was the 44 to 47 t sent toward the Moon. SLS Block 1 sends about 27 t to the Moon; future versions with a more powerful upper stage are meant to do better. Starship follows a different logic: rather than flying to the Moon in one shot, it is designed to be refueled in orbit by other Starships.

The N1, the Soviet rival

The N1 was the Soviet answer to the Saturn V, developed by Sergei Korolev's design bureau and then by Vasily Mishin after Korolev's death in 1966. Without an engine comparable to the F-1, its first stage clustered 30 NK-15 engines designed by Nikolai Kuznetsov. Managing so many engines, with all the vibration and interaction that implies, proved formidable, especially since the complete first stage was never test-fired on the ground.

All four launches, in February 1969, July 1969, June 1971 and November 1972, failed. On 3 July 1969 the rocket fell back onto its pad, causing one of the largest explosions in the history of spaceflight. The program was suspended in 1974 and later formally canceled. The engines, refined as the NK-33, found a second life decades later on other launchers.

SLS, technical heir to Apollo and the Shuttle

NASA's Space Launch System reuses proven technology: a core stage inspired by the Shuttle's external tank, powered by four hydrogen-fueled RS-25 engines that had already flown on Shuttles, plus two lengthened solid boosters. Its first flight, Artemis I, sent an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon on 16 November 2022. Artemis II, the first crewed flight, followed in 2026. Unlike the Saturn V, SLS is planned to fly only about once a year, which makes each mission expensive.

Starship, a change of philosophy

SpaceX's Starship pairs a Super Heavy booster, powered by 33 Raptor engines burning liquid methane and oxygen, with an upper stage, Starship itself, also powered by Raptors. The goal is full and rapid reuse of both stages. In October 2024, a Super Heavy booster was caught by its launch tower's arms for the first time on return. NASA has selected a version of Starship as a lunar lander for the Artemis program.

Ironically, Starship revives the many-engine approach that doomed the N1: modern digital engine control, impossible in the 1960s, makes it workable. The Saturn V nonetheless keeps a unique status. As of 2026 it remains the only rocket to have sent astronauts to walk on the Moon, as the list of its 13 launches shows.

To place the Saturn V within its own family, see Saturn I and Saturn IB; for its architecture, see Saturn V stages.

Sources

• Asif A. Siddiqi, Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974, NASA SP-2000-4408, 2000.
• Roger E. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn, NASA SP-4206, 1980.
• NASA
• SpaceX, Starship