Rocket file · LV-459
N-I
N-I is an expendable launch vehicle built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It stands 34.0 m tall, lifts 1,200 kg to low Earth orbit, first flew on 9 September 1975. It has flown 7 times with 6 successes, a success rate of 85.7%. It has nothing on the Launch Library 2 schedule right now.
Specification
Vehicle spec sheet
As listed by Launch Library 2. The cost is Launch Library’s figure, not a quoted price. Figures for rockets outside the sixty most-flown were last read on 2026-11-05.
Flight record
Reliability
About N-I
The N-I or N-1 was a derivative of the American Thor-Delta rocket, produced under licence in Japan. It used a Thor-ELT first stage, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-designed LE-3 engine was used as a second stage, and three Castor SRMs. Seven were launched between 1975 and 1982, before it was replaced by the N-II.
Upcoming flights
Manifest
N-I is retired, and no flight is filed.
All upcoming launchesN-I in the archive
From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.
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Common questions
- How many times has N-I flown?
- 7 times, with 6 successes and 1 failures.
- What is N-I's success rate?
- 85.7%. That's 6 successful flights out of 7 attempts.
- How much can N-I lift to orbit?
- Launch Library 2 lists N-I at 1,200 kg to low Earth orbit and 360 kg to geostationary transfer orbit.
- Is N-I reusable?
- No. Launch Library 2 lists N-I as expendable, so no stage is recovered to fly again.