(see text below photo)
Artists' depiction of the LK lifting off the lunar surface. The bottom of the vehicle served as a launch platform, just as with the American LM. However, the engines on the bottom of the vehicle, shown here lifting it off, were the same ones used for the final descent. There was one primary and 2 smaller backup engines, which all fired at liftoff. After adequate thrust was ensured from the primary engine, the 2 backups were shutdown.
