Posted on 12/11/2024 9:56:42 AM PST by Miami Rebel
NASA’s iconic Space Shuttle is arguably one of the best things America has made thanks to its sleek looks, its use in the launch of the International Space Station and its contribution to our understanding of the cosmos through the countless satellites it launched into orbit. Russia’s attempt at building a space plane of its own, however, was far less successful and now one of the few reminders of its existence sits rusting in a hanger in the desert.
Officially called the Buran space plane, the Soviet Union’s idea for a space shuttle looked remarkably similar to NASA’s. It had a slick white body with black heatproof tiles on the underside, a deltawing design and some pretty powerful engines at the rear. The big differences arose in its mission success, though, as the Space Shuttle carried out more than 130 successful launches while the Buran only managed one unmanned flight around the Earth.
The craft that made it into orbit never flew again and was instead placed in storage on the outskirts of the Baikonur Cosmodrome until it was destroyed when the roof collapsed in the early 2000s, explains Wired. The remnants of the only Russian shuttle to leave Earth were then cut down for scrap and now, the program is survived only by an engineering prototype that never flew and a second ship that was scheduled to launch into orbit but never made it off the ground.
Since the mid 1990s, the two craft have been sitting in storage on the outskirts of Baikonur in central Kazakhstan, as the Bright Sun Films YouTube channel recently explained in a video essay on the program. Over the years, urban explorers have tried their luck sneaking into the complex to catch a glimpse of the two space planes, which offer a rare peak at the remnants of the soviet space program.
After making a 25-mile trek out to the working space port, photographers and other explorers told the channel that the complex is a rare snapshot into the space race. In addition to the two space planes, other Soviet-era equipment sits rotting away, with documents and paperwork telling of life inside the complex before it was left to rot.
The condition of the two craft leaves little to be desired, as both have sat unmoved for almost 30 years now. Paint is flaking on both, dirt covers the wings and the fuselage of one was even covered in graffiti at one point during its stay in Kazakhstan. Thankfully, the ship’s owner soon painted over that to keep the Barun looking respectable.
It’s wild to think that while the Space Shuttle is proudly displayed in museums across America for all to see, this piece of the Soviet space program is hidden away from view.
The Buran program wasn’t exactly a failure as the one flight that took off in 1988 was successful and proved the viability of the design, reports CNN. However, shortly after its launch the Berlin Wall fell and the program was paused before, ultimately, getting canned in 1993.
Now you want to see the Buran space plane for yourself you’ll have to travel to Baikonur, but that’s not because you’ll have to sneak into this hanger. Instead, there’s a third remaining Buran on display at the museum there, which is a much less perilous trek to make than one inside an active spaceport.
(By the way, Jalopnik focuses on cars, as its name implies, but it also presents articles on other forms of transport. It's part of my daily morning ritual, indulging in reading it back-to-back with bringatrailer.com, an auto auction site where I can fantasize about buying a Shelby Cobra or an Alfa-Romeo Giulia.
It looks like stolen technology they couldn’t quite get to work
The shuttle was a political driven project and a lemon. The entire weight of the shuttle could have been payload to orbit. We should have used heavy lift rockets to orbit, not the shuttle. It should be noted that the vast percentage of the international space station was lifted to orbit by multiple heavy lift rockets. With heavy lift rockets we would not have lost two shuttles and subsequent death of astronauts.
The shuttle was a marvel of engineering at great cost. Heavy lift rockets was the way to go. Just ask Elon Musk. He knows.
“It’s amazing to see how far today’s Russia has plunged from when the Soviet Union was at its technological and military peak.”
I’m sure many foreigners can say something similar about the USA.
The Soviet Union back then was what China is today: the land of smoke and mirrors. They did have some worthwhile technological successes. The Russian people are genuinely some smart people. But a lot of the technologies were accomplished with a lot of human death and suffering. If OSHA could see the way the Soviets did their testing they’d have an aneurysm. And sometimes when things didn’t work, they faked it or just straight up lied to their own people. There were successes. But it was in spite of the Soviet system, not because of it.
CC
The first shuttle disaster probably caused the Russians to switch path.
We were heavily dependent on them to get about nauts to the space station after the ending of our space shuttle program.
“On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L) broke apart just 73 seconds into its flight from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, resulting in the tragic loss of all seven crew members on board.”
I think the second disaster stopped that effort. We had to rely on Soviet transport after that.
“ The second space shuttle disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members on board. This tragedy marked a devastating setback for the US space program, following the Challenger disaster in 1986.”
I’d say the Hubble fix mission was about the most important thing it did.
But the costs associated with the Shuttle could have allowed a number of Hubble replacements, so that too was a wash.
If your boss wants to sit next to you to the rocket ship to prove that the technology is safe… that fine. Just don’t listen to him when he orders you to sit there too !
This disaster killed the entire engineering team for this fuel system. That ended this program.
“On October 24, 1960, the Nedelin catastrophe, also known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome disaster, occurred at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Soviet Kazakhstan. It is the deadliest disaster in space exploration history, with more than 54 recognized casualties.
The tragedy occurred when a prototype R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile, being prepared for a test flight, experienced an electrical malfunction, causing the second stage engine to ignite prematurely. This led to a massive explosion, killing an unknown number of military and technical personnel working on the preparations. Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin, the head of the R-16 development program, was among those who perished.”
“The shuttle was a political driven project”
It was also designed to meet certain military missions.
I can’t imagine any foreigner saying that. With all our problems, our military dwarfs any other, and with every year that passes our technology surpasses that of the rest of the world’s by a greater degree.
The Russian public was unaware of many of these disasters until after the fall of communism.
CC
It was completely political anyway; the Kremlin told the Russian rocket scientists, "The Americans are building this 'Space Shuttle' thing; we need to build one too."
It reminds me of the Soviets ripping off Packards to make Zils. (Although at least the Russians got working cars out of it.)
British YouTuber, Bald and Bankrupt, visited it a couple of years ago…. https://youtu.be/0fZ-r5Qe3tM?si=hVrsL4Wf8hnHMH9x
IIRC he got arrested there.
So, it’s a hulking piece of space junk. But, how does it ‘rust’ in space where there is no oxygen? Other corrosions?
I think I got this info from the TV program: NASA: The Unexplained Files but I thought it was overgrown with fungus and bacteria.
Old news...Bald & Bankrupt vlog infiltrated the facility over two years ago. It got him permanently expelled from Russia, after he was arrested for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZ-r5Qe3tM
His vlog is outstanding, must-see TV.
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