It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, more successful than any of Soviets' attempts with N-1 in late 1960s and early 1970s. Mishin's creation, wherefrom Musk's engineers borrow a lot, never reached space proper. But, of course, the third launch should be deemed clumsy nonetheless, because it wouldn't stand comparison with Buran-Energia, which took off more than 30 years ago and had been subsequently scrapped simply due to internal corrosion in the USSR.