![]() NASA shuttles carried seven or eight astronauts, whereas Buran could accommodate a crew of 10. When finally delivered in 1988, the flight article Buran (OK-1K) was eerily similar in appearance to the U.S. Buran hitches a ride on the back of a huge Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane. Unlike its American counterpart, however, the OK-GLI had four turbofan engines and could take off and fly under its own power. The Soviet aerodynamic testbed, known as OK-GLI (Buran Aerodynamic Analogue), was used for free flights as well as landings, similar to those carried out by Enterprise during the ALT. Analogously, the Soviet shuttle could be carried on the back of an enormous Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft. ![]() The ALT program studied the shuttle when it was mated to a Boeing 747, in free flight and during landing. NASA used the shuttle Enterprise (which never flew in space) as a testbed for piloted aerodynamic studies, culminating in the so-called Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program. This data grab saved the Soviets years of development and millions in research funding. universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Caltech and MIT, all of which had teams engaged in shuttle research. In the end, they were able to obtain enormous quantities of information from NASA-funded studies and by accessing databases at U.S. The Soviets relied on the Military-Industrial Commission (VPK) and the KGB to obtain the sensitive information and get it into the hands of their aerospace scientists. While most of NASA’s developmental data was unclassified, the sheer amount of information to sift through was daunting. Espionage was therefore employed to obtain as much technical information about the American space shuttle program as possible. One BOR was recovered at sea and an image of the secret craft was even published in National Geographic.ĭespite these efforts, the Soviets ultimately decided that their spaceplane would closely mimic the U.S. Scaled-down versions of the MiG-105 and its successor, the BOR unmanned orbital rocketplane, were test launched. Initial plans called for development of the MiG-105 (which was similar to the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar) into a full-fledged spaceplane. Special cosmonaut teams were selected and began training. The Buran program was formally authorized in February 1976. The scaled-down MiG-105 experimental piloted orbiter aircraft preceded Buran. As such, Buran’s designers had clear military intentions in developing their own shuttle. The Soviets were specifically worried about space-based lasers that could potentially disable their ICBMs and satellites. The NASA shuttles’ large payload capacity worried Soviet engineers, who were concerned the cargo bay could be used to carry weapons. Nevertheless, the Soviets were convinced that a hidden military agenda lay behind the American program. NASA’s shuttles were primarily designed for civilian space applications, only carrying payloads for the Department of Defense on a small number of flights. While the two shuttles shared many similarities, they were fundamentally different vehicles. Officially designated the VKK (“air space ship”) Space Orbiter Program, the Soviet effort was conceived as a counterpoint and competitor to NASA’s space shuttle. Many aerospace enthusiasts are unaware that there was a second space shuttle program in operation for much of the same time period-the Soviet shuttle, known as Buran.īuran (“blizzard” or “snowstorm”) is now all but forgotten in the West but was a centerpiece of Soviet space efforts from the 1970s through the early 1990s. ![]() But the program was also notable for the catastrophic loss of two shuttles and their crews. From 1981 to 2011, the space shuttles Columbia, Discovery, Endeavour, Atlantis and Challenger lofted more than 800 astronauts and countless payloads into orbit over the course of 135 flights. NASA’s space shuttle program was famous worldwide for its triumphs and tragedies. The Buran spaceplane never lived up to its potential after it was overcome by political and economic forces beyond its designers’ control. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.Surprising Story of the Forgotten Soviet Space Shuttle Close If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. ![]()
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