Shuttle Buran Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Soviet reusable spacecraft program Buran ("Бура́н" meaning "snowstorm" or "blizzard" in Russian) began in 1976 at TsAGI as a response to the United States Space Shuttle program. Soviet politicians were convinced that the Space Shuttle could be used for military purposes, hence posing a potential threat to the balance of power during the Cold War. The project was the largest and the most expensive in the history of Soviet space exploration.
Because Buran's debut followed Space Shuttle Columbia's and there were visual similarities between the two shuttle systems, during the Cold War many speculated that espionage played a role in the development of the Soviet shuttle. However, it is now known that while externally it was an aerodynamic copy of the Space Shuttle, internally it was all engineered and developed domestically.
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2 Development 3 First flight 4 Aftermath 5 See also 6 External links |
Key differences with the NASA Space Shuttle
Development
The development of the Buran began in the early 1970s as a response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program. While the Soviet engineers favored a smaller, lighter lifting body vehicle, the military leadership pushed for a direct, full scale copy of the delta wing Space Shuttle, in an effort to maintain the strategic parity between the superpowers.
The construction of the shuttles began in 1980 and by 1984 the first full-scale Buran was rolled out. The first suborbital test flight of a scale-model, however, took place as early as July 1983. As the project lasted, five additional scale-model flights were performed. With the first full-scale Buran, 24 test flights were performed after which the shuttle was "worn out".
First flight
The first and only orbital launch of the (unmanned) shuttle Buran 1.01 was at 3:00 UTC on November 15, 1988. It was lifted into orbit by the specially designed Energiya booster rocket. The life support system was not installed and no software was installed on the CRT displays.
The shuttle orbited the Earth twice before returning, performing an impressive automated landing on the shuttle runway at Baikonur Cosmodrome. This is a capability that the U.S. shuttle system does not have, but one which has been proposed for inclusion in the future to allow unmanned operation.
Part of the launch was televised, but the actual lift-off was not shown. This led to some speculation that the mission may have been fabricated, and that the subsequent landing may not have been from orbit but from a shuttle-carrying aircraft. (Note that in the United States, this procedure was used to test the flight characteristics of the Space Shuttle on approach and landing using the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Space Shuttle Enterprise, so that by the time mission STS-1 drew to a close, the handling characteristics of Space Shuttle Columbia would be known.) However the launch video has now been released to the public confirming that the shuttle did lift-off, the poor weather conditions described by the Russian media at the time can be easily seen.
Aftermath
After the first flight the project was suspended due to lack of funds and the political situation in the Soviet Union. The two subsequent orbiters, which were due in 1990 (codename Ptichka - little bird) and 1992 respectively were never completed. The project was officially shut down in 1993.
The program was to have carried out research, national-pride, and technological objectives similar to those of the U.S. shuttle program, including resupply of the Mir space station, which was launched in 1986 and remained in service until 2001. When Mir was finally visited by a spaceplane, the visitor was an American shuttle — not Buran.
The Buran SO, a docking module that was to be used for rendezvous with the Mir space station, was refitted for use with the US space shuttles during the Shuttle-Mir missions.
The completed shuttles 1.01 and 1.02 ('Ptichka'), and the remains of the project are now property of Kazakhstan. In 2002, the hangar housing the sole space-flown Buran 1.01 orbiter and a mockup of the Energiya booster rocket collapsed due to incomplete maintenance, destroying the vehicle. Eight workers were also killed in the collapse of the building's roof.
Burans 2.01 and 2.02 (This second series had a modified flight-deck design) never left the Tushino factory and remain there in poor condition. Parts from these vehicles are being sold on the Internet.
The partially built Buran 2.03 was dismantled when the programme was closed, and no longer exists.
As well as the five 'production' Burans, there were eight test vehicles. These were used for static testing or atmospheric trials, and some were merely mock-ups for testing of electrical fittings, crew procedures, etc.
Serial numbers and current status
- OK-M (later OK-ML-1) - Static Test - Now at Baikonur Cosmodrome
- OK-GLI - Aero Test
- OK-KS - Static Electrical/Integration Test - Now at the Energia factory in Korolev
- OK-MT - Engineering Mock-up - Now at Baikonur Cosmodrome
- OK-??? - Static Test - Status unknown
- OK-TVI - Static Heat/Vacuum Testbed - Status unknown
- OK-??? - Static Test - Status unknown
- OK-TVA - Static Test - Now in Gorky Park, Moscow
After the programme was cancelled, OK-GLI was stored at Zhukovsky Air Base, near Moscow, and eventually bought by an Australian company called 'Buran Space Corporation'. It was transported by ship to Sydney, Australia via Gothenberg, Sweden - arriving on February 9th 2000, and appeared as a static tourist attraction under a large temporary structure in Darling Harbour for a few years.
Visitors could walk around and inside the vehicle (a walkway was built along the cargo bay), and plans were in place for a tour of varous cities in Australia and Asia. The owners, however, went into bankruptcy, and the vehicle was moved into the open air, where it suffered some deterioration and vandalism. It is now in Bahrain.
In September 2004 a German reporter team found the Shuttle near Bahrain. It was bought by the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum;, but has not yet been transported to Germany.
This is an Article on Shuttle Buran. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Shuttle Buran See also
Russian space
Space
External links