The Soviet Union also considered several direct ascent strategies, though in the end they settled on an approach similar to NASA's: two men in a Soyuz spacecraft with a one-man LK lander. The Soviets attempted to launch the N1 rocket on 21 February and 3 July 1969, both of which failed, before NASA's Apollo 11 lifted off and made the first crewed lunar landing on 20 July 1969. The Soviets would make two more attempts to launch the N1, in 1972 and 1974, but neither was successful.