In 1974 the Soviets would have had a good chance of making the first successful launch of an N-1. The failure was political and organizational, not technical: 26 different, poorly coordinated bureaus, divided between at least 2 moon programs, 500 state-owned companies, only 5 BLN $ invested compared to the American 24 BLN $ for Apollo, realized too late (1964) of the serious American intentions, no ground-testing.
