Buran. The Soviet Space Shuttle
In our recent publications we’ve told about the world’s heaviest and largest jet Antonov or AN-225 that was designed for the Soviet space program in 1988 and able to airlift the Energia rocket’s boosters and Buran about which we’ve told as well.
On the next photos one can see the complete process of launching Buran into the space orbit.
And here you can find a photo session from Ukrainian site about what is now with Buran.
| Tags: buran, soviet-cosmonautics, soviet-space-program |
Tip: To get daily entertaiment news like this one, bookmark englishrussia.com or get 
if it's more convinient for you.
if it's more convinient for you.
Our friends publish:Bloggers, send your links! |
Back to English Russia Main Page for more articles like this
5:13 am
Loading ...
FIRST……………….
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THESE HISTORICAL PICS.THANKS ALOT ER.
zafarad,
Have the Ukrainians respoded to your proposal concerning the Antonov Bureau?
Not at all.instead of they wanna back their remaining AN 125,used by Russians…….
Boris,
Did you add input to this article?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070829/tc_nm/sleep_alarms_tech_dc
What reply do you think I might give to that?
Sorry different spelling of the last name.
LOL I am keeping quite
Confusion makes life interesting.
Great photos of the big Antonov and Buran. zafarad, is there any talk of the Buran program being continued?
Yes, interesting pics. I must admit that I wasn’t aware about soviets having space shuttles.
John,here i come,Buran was the futuristic space programme of CCCP.if this project was continues,CCCP shall take huge advantage of space race.after the MIR station Buran programme was so advanced and pride of the CCCP.yes i admit that Buran took `SOME` ideas from US Shuttle programme.both are same in appearance but inside and has some basic structural differences was became the Buran another type of space vehicle.for example Buran used energia liquid fuel rockets attached to body of vehicle.these rockets was largest ever built by any country.so BURAN was more powerful than US shuttle.Buran was bigger than shuttle.soviet scientists were successfully launch and land Buran by remote controlled systems.2 scheduled test flights were took placed at that time but unfortunately in 1991 Soviet union was collapsed and Buran dumped forever by the order of new Yeltsin`s regime…initially 2 machines were ordered by the ministry of space sciences,first was successfully tested and ready for space travel and other was under installation of computer systems and engines.after the sudden collapsed of CCCP new Russian government is not able to continue the programme,due to huge financial difficulties and they abandoned all future schedule flights,they dumped tested Buran in energia launching pad storage facility and other unfinished module was sold to private party as a scrape.buer convert this ship into restaurant……..in Moscow.now i think their is no programme to revive the Buran project again because of that Buran programme was so old according to new developments of new technologies.NASA also rethink about new reusable space vehicle for future programme.but i guess Russians has no future plans to develop reusable space ship because of Russians has huge piles of ICBM`s.they successfully covert these missiles into space rockets.untill the stocked icbm`s are not last, they might be not interested in new space vehicle development.
zafarad,
Thank you for the brief history. Maybe someday we will see this…
http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya.htm
…more specifically the MAKS system utilizing the An-225 as the launch vehicle.
Yes, it’s being continued. Now it’s called ‘Clipper’. It’s much smaller yet cheaper than Buran. Have a look here http://www.buran.ru/htm/cliper.htm. Just scroll down to the last two - rotating - pics. Also, have a look at the whole family of designes from many countries; some of them realised (Buran; SpaceShuttle) some not: http://www.buran.ru/htm/family.htm
OMG those rail tracks. Looks good. When did this happen I dont remember launching the shuttle.?
Here is a great website about Buran.
nice, too bad russian abandoned buran programm.. may be nasa could learn from them.. shuttles’re just too fragile…
Cyrillic in space… yaaaay
Some of these are fake.
Fascinating! And such beautiful images - thanks!
After the fall of the USSR, at the end of 1991, the subventions started to miss. Moreover, the lake of need for the Buran-Energia project became increasingly obvious, in spite of few missions planned to supply MIR with Buran. Lastly, the cold war ended the russian military do not need such a machine and decided to turn off the faucet. In 1993 the financing is stopped, there is not even enough money to close the project.
Buran becomes property of Kazakhstan. The tests models remain few years in hangars then are moved outside to make room. The hangar 112 which shelters Buran 1.01 (the only model to have flown) and Energia is opened to visitors, but due to lack of maintenance it fell in in May 2002, destroying Buran-Energia and killing 7 workmen.
No material of this project have been re-used until now, except for the engines of the first stage of Energia (rocket Zenith) which powered the launcher Sea Launch. It seems that all the work achieved by these engineers, technicians and workmen was a big waste.
Awesome pictures.
I’m guessing from the pictures that it wouldn’t crash because of an “O” ring failing at 32 F
Remarkable photos of a space vehicle that never reached its full potential. There weren’t enough Rubles to go around in the early 90’s to keep it going. In retrospect, the MIR project was much more significant than Buran, which is why it got the limited funds that were available. However, suggesting that Buran was more durable than the Space Shuttle is a stretch. Buran flew once, unmanned, for two orbits. Shuttles have 1,000’s of hours in space over hundreds of flights. Only two fatal events in over 25 years of operation is actually pretty impressive considering the risks and technical challenges of space flight. It is questionable if Buran could have bettered that performance over 25 years of use. But let us honor all cosmonauts and astronauts who have given their lives in the exploration of space. The Buran met a sad end, but its spirit endures.
hi cool space lift off pic it is very interesting
LMAO!! This is GREAT work!!!
[...] shit this site has awesome pictures. English Russia » Buran. The Soviet Space Shuttle __________________ WHISKEY! TANGO! FOXTROT! - Your sides will split and your fucking guts will [...]
[...] is a great series of pictures of the Buran getting unloaded from the An-225 and placed on the launch vehicle in the assembly hall [...]
[...] kuvasarja Buranista EnglishRussia.comissa. Buran-tietoa lisää mm. Buran-energia.comissa ja suomenkielisessä [...]
nice quality pics.
makes you wonder how much the us lost through espionage though, seems we leak designs like sieves.
[...] uzay gemisine sahip olmları.. amerika’nın space shuttle’larının rus versiyonu.. buran bana hep amerikalılar’ın uzay gemisinden daha çekici gizemli gelmiÅŸtir. hiç bir görevde [...]