How much does a short blizzard weigh. Soviet reusable orbital ship "Buran" (11F35). Differences from the Space Shuttle

Buran - This soviet spacecraft REUSABLE use . He EXCEEDED, on technical characteristics, American ship reusable use - Shuttle. Buran spaceship - This extreme and the most GRAND project , carried out in THE USSR. AT the USSR such projects could only be carried out with the knowledge and consent of top leadership of the country. Before that moment until you have flown first shuttle, the Soviet government was absolutely sure what kind of project to create , in that time - in THE PRINCIPLE IS IMPOSSIBLE! Therefore powerful PUSH to create Burana spaceship received only after April 12, 1981 of the year , when first time took off first shuttle! This was Shuttle "Colombia". First Shuttle flew right into Day of Soviet Cosmonautics, in 20th Anniversary flight THE FIRST COSMONAUT our planet Yu.A. Gagarin. More likely, flight date first shuttle was chosen NOT BY CHANCE.

Booster Energiya with a spaceship Buran Power Energy-170,000,000 hp

Soviet government undertook to carry out projects such scale only in terms of - WHAT, this project can give MILITARY sense. What space in military-political aspect – it is an opportunity to make crushing blow on the enemy NOT while receiving retaliatory strike. At the end 70s early 80s years 20th century, the arms race began to move into space. came forward TRUTH - WHO OWNS THE SPACE - THAT OWNS THE WORLD. And this implies, first of all, the creation Burana spacecraft REUSABLE use .

System Energia - Buran on takeoff

In the very early space race, USSR BREAKED FORWARD! First satellite Earth. First flight human in space. The first photo of the far side of the moon. First woman in outer space etc. USSR leadership continued in space 12 years – with 1957 year on 1969 year . USSR leadership broken in space Americans in 1969 year — landing human on the MOON! As well as launching 1981 spaceship year REUSABLE use, Shuttle, that was similar, created later spaceship, Buran! Incidentally, say that LIVE REPORT on disembarkation of a man on the moon was shown on television THE WHOLE WORLD, at that time, in the mode as, now they say « ON LINE. This straight reportage NOT only watched TWO countries in World - These were the USSR and China. True, in the USSR straight reportage for disembarking a person on MOON a few people were watching – it was only Soviet cosmonauts in Space Flight Control Center.

AT the USSR development space mainly considered in MILITARY aspect. Even Yu.A.Gagarin flew to combat rocket converted to fly human in space. But rockets have one very serious and major drawback - it is only used ONCE. Accordingly, it is very EXPENSIVE. Therefore, there was idea create Buran spacecraft REUSABLE use , which will be safely after the flight into space COME BACK on the Earth - on the aerodrome. Let's just say that RESOURCE of the Buran spacecraft near 100 launches.

First attempt to create reusable spaceship – This was Soviet a project called "Spiral" ( see article "Unknown aircraft"). It was so named because it landed on spirals. Spiral - This was SPACE FIGHTER. His main purpose It was destruction on the orbit Earth space objects enemy and return to Earth. To start production a new type of military technology, it was necessary to obtain permission, including defense minister. Then the Minister of Defense the USSR was A.A. Grechko. He , NOT sorted out in details this project, refused in production Spirals, verbatim : « Are we going to do fantasy? So with one stroke of a pen was destroyed promising development Spiral! If a would Spiral NOT was so simply hacked to death, it is still unknown whose shuttle would take off first - American or Soviet! True, it must be said that after death A.A. Grechko in 1976 year aircraft-analogue Spiral after all, it was built and began to pass flight tests. First flight passed successfully, but the future Spirals was gone – was taken decision to create Burana spaceship.

We all more and more behind from Americans. AT USA already at this time full swing construction was going on Shuttle. Shuttle was main program element SDI - "Strategic Defense Initiative". SDI - this accommodation laser weapons in outer space to destroy satellites and ballistic missiles enemy. AT the USSR about these works knew and, after doing research, came to disappointing conclusions. Shuttle could do "DIVE" from space to height 80 kilometers , reset nuclear bomb and then again go to orbit. At this time, the post of Minister of Defense the USSR took D.F.Ustinov. Make a decision – make or not to do Soviet shuttle, he was to. AT January 1976 a resolution was issued on the start of work on the creation Burana spaceship. Question – succeed or it won't work, Buran is a spaceship, even NOT standing. After losing in LUNAR race, was goal create a device SUPERIOR on technical characteristics Shuttle.

System Energy - Buran Rise Energy Power - 170,000,000 hp

Buran - is the common name REUSABLE SPACE SYSTEM. It consists of launch vehicle and space plane. Buran spaceship - it's quite NOT copy Shuttle, with its outward resemblance. The basis of the American systems – it's himself ORBITAL SHIP, installed on fuel tank. Fuel tank, after fuel combustion, separates from the ship and burns down when falling into atmosphere. All main traction motors, to exit to orbit on the Chatelet, are on the very orbital ship. On the system Buran, main traction engines, to enter orbit, are on launch vehicle "Energy". After fuel combustion, launch vehicle Energia separates from the ship and burns down when falling into atmosphere. Actually Burane spaceship there is only NOT basic traction motors. Advantage systems "Energy-Buran" that the booster Energy can put into orbit not only a space plane, but also ANY other useful LOAD. It turns out that and booster Energy It has more power and, accordingly, the ability to put into orbit big weights and separately Buran spaceship It has greater load capacity.

Energia-Buran system Exit to the start

Energy - it's a booster SUPERHEAVY class. starting weight near 3 000 tons . Weight put into orbit payload before 140 tons . Height rockets on the launch pad 70 meters . Total power engines on start 170 000 000 Horse power . launch vehicle energy created the Ministry General mechanical engineering – This missile industry . Buran spaceship created the Ministry Aviation industry . space plane should be able to fly and land on the aerodrome and should DO NOT BURN in atmosphere, when leaving orbit for speed 8 km/s . Buran spaceship brief technical characteristics : weight empty ship 90 tons , weight payload 30 tons , length 35 meters , wingspan 24 meters , height 16 meters.

For check aerodynamics and working off landing Burana spacecraft was built analogue - complete copy real ship, just another plus additional engines to take off from airfield. Whatever it was called: "Flying cobblestone", "Iron", "Suitcase with wings". Hard to believe , that this angular object height with five-storey house, generally maybe take off. In what he sit down still believed smaller. Specially for takeoff and landing Burana spaceship lane was built length 5 500 meters – the most long in Europe. First takeoff from airfield, Buran committed November 10, 1985 of the year . Contrary to fears Buran is easy got off the ground. Descent trajectory space plane is very cool. An uninitiated person might think that Buran spaceship like a stone falls down, but when approaching the ground – on a certain height airplane flattens out and soft touches the strip. Total analogue Burana flew 24 times .

In addition to the task of teaching Buran fly , had to solve a problem no less important – thermal protection space plane. All Buran spaceship covered heat protection tiles made from special QUARTZ SAND a certain composition. Degree of thermal protection of this tile is such that after fully heating up to temperature 1 700 degrees Celcius , she is cools down in just a few seconds and you can take it with bare hands. And if heat-shielding tile Burana spaceship put on palm and aim at the tile blue fire jet from a blowtorch, the palm will feel Total only warmly. Temperature blue fire jet blowtorch about 3 000 degrees Celcius . Total heat protection tiles approx. 40 000 things . The cost of each tiles 500 rubles – when was the average salary 130 rubles to month! Accordingly, all thermal protection Burana spacecraft cost 20 000 000 rubles – this is at the time when ruble price was comparable with dollar price! In the history of creation the Buran spacecraft is interesting one more fact. At times the USSR position president called "General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU". When USSR government decided to create reusable spacecraft use Buran, The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was L.I. Brezhnev. Brezhnev tried dissuade build spaceship Buran, citing the rejection as — it's literally FANTASTICLY EXPENSIVE PROJECT! They also said that in the country and without it LOTS OF PROBLEMS what's in the country NO MONEY for such developments ! Then, in order to deal NOT stopped Brezhnev said everything TWO WORDS! These were the words : "MONEY TO FIND!" And MONEY FOUND!!!

Some numbers temperatures heating various surfaces of the Burana spacecraft, when leaving orbits: nose ship and "belly" - 1,700 degrees Celcius, "back" - less 370 degrees Celcius, leading edge of the wing made from alloy based tungsten - near 3 000 degrees Celcius. Specified temperature heating occurs during descent from orbit Burana spaceship on the height about 57 kilometers . Interesting, that at the meeting Burana spaceship from orbit and during its entry into the atmosphere TOLERANCE TOLERANCE on PITCH is only 0,5 degrees! Otherwise, when lower pitch angle the ship is at risk burn down in atmosphere, and at higher pitch angle he can rebound from atmosphere, as pancake from water! For thermal insulation tile testing in real conditions remembered the project Spiral. Made a reduced copy Spirals and launched it into space. Tests passed successfully!

Energia-Buran system at the launch complex

From the start launch Burana spaceship in SPACE planned as UNMANNED - fully AUTO. Arrangement automatic flying many times MORE DIFFICULT, than flying to manual mode . By the way, we note that no one flight Shuttle NOT was in automatic mode. It has come November 15, 1988 of the year – launch day Burana spaceship. The weather deteriorated before our eyes. The day before received a storm warning. Speed the wind reached 20 m/s . After the meeting of the chief designers, everything was still given permission on your marks . Buran spaceship went into orbit. He had to do 2 turns around the Earth. many already then it was clear , what first flight Burana spaceship will LAST. During boarding Buran fought the strong side wind. The plane touched down the runway at almost the center of the calculated point, deviating from center line smaller , than on 1 meter . Ran down the lane and froze.

It was HIGHEST POINT development SOVIET SPACE!!!

R kill 259"000

Specifications
ENGINE
Model RMZ-640
Volume, cm3 / Cylinders 635 / 2
Power, hp 34
Type 2-stroke
Cylinder diameter × piston stroke, mm 76x70
Fuel system carburetor
Carburetor / Mikuni type / float
Air cooling
Exhaust system Silencer
Issue type n.a.
Intake system Silencer-intake
Inlet type n.d.
Lubrication system Joint
Maximum speed, km/h Not less than 60
CHASSIS
Transmission CVT, forward, reverse, neutral
Brake mechanism Mechanical, disc
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
Starting system Manual
Ignition Contactless ignition
Electric start No
Reverse Yes
Heated handlebar grips and throttle trigger Option
Headlight Halogen, 55/60
Speedometer / Odometer Yes
CAPACITY
Oil tank capacity, l -
Fuel tank, l 28
SUSPENSION
lane type suspension elliptical spring
Move per. pendants, mm 50
Front suspension damper -
Front shock absorber -
rear type independent suspension, spring-balancer.
Back stroke pendants, mm 50
Rear shock absorber propulsion -
Ski track (between centers), mm -
Caterpillar, L × W × H, mm 2x (2878x380x17.5)
DIMENSIONS
Number of places 2
Snowmobile dimensions, L×W×H, mm 2700±30х910±30х1335±30
Box dimensions, L×W×H, mm 2420x1060x1130
Dry* weight, kg 285
EQUIPMENT
Windshield Yes
Passenger back Yes
Trunk No
Towbar Yes
Warranty, months 36

Description

Buran has long been a true friend for thousands and thousands of Russian snowmobilers. They trust him, knowing for sure: in difficult times, the snowmobile will not let you down.

A short frame and a unique “Buranovskaya” design scheme: “1 ski + 2 tracks” make it a snow all-terrain vehicle. The snowmobile does not require special riding skills, and is easy to maneuver in forest areas.

The letter "A" denotes a model with a short platform.

The Buran A model is a classic; at the request of the owners, its design remained unchanged.

The snowmobile comes in a new modern design. We have changed the appearance of the hood and the scheme of its attachment: now it leans back, providing easy access to all components and assemblies in the engine compartment. To increase comfort, Buran A was equipped with a new high two-level seat with a removable backrest for the passenger. The material of the hood is injection molded plastic: it will provide resistance to external influences - impacts and will not crack in the cold.

The snowmobile requires minimal technical support and has good maintainability in the field far from civilization.

Buran A is a simple and reliable snowmobile, like a Kalashnikov assault rifle. A whole army of hunters and fishermen in Russia see no alternative to him.

Reusable orbital ship (according to the terminology of Minaviaprom - orbital aircraft) "Buran"

(product 11F35)

"B Uranus"- a Soviet winged reusable orbital ship. Designed to solve a number of defense tasks, launching various space objects into orbit around the Earth and servicing them; delivering modules and personnel for assembling large structures and interplanetary complexes in orbit; returning to Earth faulty or outdated satellites, development of equipment and technologies for space production and delivery of products to Earth, other cargo and passenger transportation along the Earth-space-Earth route.

Internal layout , construction . In the bow of the "Buran" there is a sealed plug-in cabin with a volume of 73 cubic meters for the crew (2 - 4 people) and passengers (up to 6 people), compartmentson-board equipment and a bow block of control engines.

The middle part is occupied by the cargo compartmentwith doors opening upwards, in which manipulators are placed for loading and unloading and installation and assembly work and variousoperations for servicing space objects. Under the cargo compartment there are units of power supply and temperature control systems. Propulsion units, fuel tanks, hydraulic system units are installed in the tail compartment (see fig.). The design of "Buran" used aluminum alloys, titanium, steel and other materials. To resist aerodynamic heating during de-orbit, the outer surface of the spacecraft has a heat-shielding coating that is designed for reusable use.

A flexible thermal protection is installed on the upper surface, which is less subject to heating, and other surfaces are covered with heat-protective tiles made on the basis of quartz fibers and withstanding temperatures up to 1300ºС. In especially heat-stressed areas (in the toes of the fuselage and wing, where the temperature reaches 1500º - 1600ºС), a carbon-carbon composite material is used. The stage of the most intense heating of the SC is accompanied by the formation of an air plasma layer around it, however, the SC design does not warm up to more than 160°C by the end of the flight. Each of the 38600 tiles has a specific installation location, due to the theoretical contours of the OK case. To reduce thermal loads, large values ​​of the bluntness radii of the wing and fuselage toes were also chosen. Estimated design resource - 100 orbital flights.

The internal layout of the Buran on the poster of NPO Energia (now the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation). Explanation of the designation of the ship: all orbital ships had the code 11F35. The final plans were to build five flying ships, in two series. Being the first, "Buran" had an aviation designation (at NPO Molniya and the Tushino Machine-Building Plant) 1.01 (the first series - the first ship). NPO Energia had a different designation system, according to which Buran was identified as 1K - the first ship. Since in each flight the ship had to perform different tasks, the flight number was added to the ship's index - 1К1 - the first ship, the first flight.

Propulsion system and onboard equipment. The joint propulsion system (JPU) ensures the additional insertion of the spacecraft into the reference orbit, the performance of interorbital transfers (corrections), precise maneuvering near the orbital complexes being serviced, the orientation and stabilization of the spacecraft, and its deceleration for deorbiting. The ODE consists of two orbital maneuvering engines (in the figure on the right), operating on hydrocarbon fuel and liquid oxygen, and 46 gas-dynamic control engines, grouped into three blocks (one nose block and two tail blocks). More than 50 onboard systems, including radio engineering, TV and telemetry systems, life support systems, thermal control, navigation, power supply and others, are combined on the basis of a computer into a single onboard complex, which ensures the duration of the Buran's stay in orbit up to 30 days.

The heat released by the onboard equipment is supplied to the radiation heat exchangers installed on the inside of the cargo compartment doors with the help of a coolant and radiated into the surrounding space (the doors are open during flight in orbit).

Geometrical and weight characteristics. The length of the Buran is 35.4 m, the height is 16.5 m (with the landing gear extended), the wingspan is about 24 m, the wing area is 250 square meters, the fuselage width is 5.6 m, the height is 6.2 m; the diameter of the cargo compartment is 4.6 m, its length is 18 m. The launch weight of the OK is up to 105 tons, the weight of the cargo delivered into orbit is up to 30 tons, the mass returned from orbit is up to 15 tons. The maximum fuel capacity is up to 14 tons.

The large overall dimensions of the Buran make it difficult to use ground means of transportation, so it (as well as the launch vehicle units) is delivered to the cosmodrome by air by the VM-T aircraft of the Experimental Machine-Building Plant named after V.I. V.M. Myasishchev (at the same time, the keel is removed from the Buran and the mass is brought to 50 tons) or by the An-225 multi-purpose transport aircraft in a fully assembled form.

The ships of the second series were the crowning achievement of the engineering art of our aircraft industry, the pinnacle of domestic manned cosmonautics. These ships were to become truly all-weather and round-the-clock manned orbital aircraft with improved flight performance and significantly increased capabilities due to many design changes and improvements. In particular, they increased the number of shunting engines due to the new -You can learn much more about winged spaceships from our book (see the cover on the left) "Space Wings", (M .: Lenta Wanderings, 2009. - 496s.: Il.) Today - this is the most complete Russian-language encyclopedic narrative of dozens of domestic and foreign projects. Here's what it says in the book's synopsis:
" The book is devoted to the stage of emergence and development of cruise rocket and space systems, which were born at the "junction of three elements" - aviation, rocket technology and astronautics, and absorbed not only the design features of these types of equipment, but also the whole heap of technical and military technologies accompanying them. political problems.
The history of the creation of aerospace vehicles of the world is described in detail - from the first aircraft with rocket engines of the times of World War II to the start of the implementation of the Space Shuttle (USA) and Energia-Buran (USSR) programs.
The book, designed for a wide range of readers interested in the history of aviation and astronautics, design features and unexpected twists in the fate of the first projects of aerospace systems, contains about 700 illustrations on 496 pages, most of which are published for the first time.
Assistance in the preparation of the publication was provided by such enterprises of the Russian aerospace complex as NPO Molniya, NPO Mashinostroeniya, Federal State Unitary Enterprise RAC MiG, LII named after M.M. Gromov, TsAGI, as well as the Museum of the Marine Space Fleet. The introductory article was written by General V.E. Gudilin, a legendary figure in our cosmonautics.
You can get a more complete picture of the book, its price and purchase options on a separate page. There you can also get acquainted with its content, design, introductory article by Vladimir Gudilin, authors' preface and imprint editions.

Almost everyone who lived in the USSR and who is at least a little interested in astronautics has heard of the legendary Buran, a winged spacecraft that was launched into orbit in combination with the Energia launch vehicle. The pride of Soviet space rocketry, the Buran orbiter made its only flight during perestroika and was severely damaged when the roof of the Baikonur hangar collapsed at the beginning of the new millennium. What is the fate of this ship, and why the Energia-Buran reusable space system program was frozen, we will try to figure it out.

History of creation

"Buran" is a winged reusable spacecraft of an aircraft configuration. Its development began in 1974-1975 on the basis of the "Integrated Rocket and Space Program", which was the response of the Soviet cosmonautics to the news in 1972 that the United States had begun the implementation of the Space Shuttle program. So the development of such a ship was at that time a strategically important task for deterring a potential enemy and maintaining the positions of a space superpower by the Soviet Union.

The first Buran projects, which appeared in 1975, were almost identical to the American shuttles, not only in appearance, but also in the structural arrangement of the main components and blocks, including main engines. After numerous improvements, the Buran became the way the whole world remembered it after the flight in 1988.

Unlike the American shuttles, it could deliver a greater weight of cargo (up to 30 tons) into orbit, as well as return up to 20 tons to the ground. But the main difference between the Buran and the shuttles, which determined its design, was a different placement and number of engines. On the domestic ship there were no main engines that were transferred to the launch vehicle, but there were engines to bring it into orbit. In addition, they turned out to be somewhat heavier.

The first, only and completely successful flight of Buran took place on November 15, 1988. The Energia-Buran ISS was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:00 am. It was a completely autonomous flight, not controlled from Earth. The flight lasted 206 minutes, during which the ship took off, went into earth orbit, circled the Earth twice, returned safely and landed at the airfield. It was an extremely joyful event for all developers, designers, everyone who somehow participated in the creation of this technical miracle.

It is sad that this particular ship, which made an “independent” triumphal flight, was buried in 2002 under the rubble of the collapsed roof of the hangar.

In the 90s, state funding for space development began to decline sharply, and in 1991 the Energia-Buran ISS was transferred from the defense program to the space program to solve national economic problems, after which, in the following 1992, the Russian Space Agency decided to stop work on the project of the reusable system "Energiya-Buran", and the created reserve was subjected to conservation.

Ship device

The ship's fuselage is conditionally divided into 3 compartments: nose (for the crew), middle (for payload) and tail.

The nose of the hull structurally consists of a bow spinner, a pressurized cockpit and an engine compartment. The interior of the cabin is divided by floors that form decks. Decks together with frames provide the necessary strength to the cabin. In front of the cab, there are portholes on top.

The cabin is divided into three functional parts: the command compartment, where the main crew is located; household compartment - to accommodate an additional crew, spacesuits, berths, a life support system, personal hygiene products, five blocks with control system equipment, elements of a thermal control system, radio engineering and telemetry equipment; an aggregate compartment that ensures the operation of thermoregulation and life support systems.

To place cargo on the Buran, a capacious cargo compartment with a total volume of approximately 350 m3, a length of 18.3 m and a diameter of 4.7 m is provided. The compartment also allows you to serve the placed cargo and monitor the operation of the on-board systems until the very moment of unloading from the Buran.
The total length of the Buran ship is 36.4 m, the fuselage diameter is 5.6 m, the height on the chassis is 16.5 m, the wingspan is 24 m. The chassis has a base of 13 m, a track of 7 m.

The main crew was planned from 2-4 people, but the spacecraft can take on board an additional 6-8 researchers to carry out various work in orbit, that is, Buran can actually be called a ten-seat vehicle.

The duration of the flight is determined by a special program, the maximum time is set to 30 days. In orbit, good maneuverability of the Buran spacecraft is ensured by additional fuel reserves of up to 14 tons, the nominal fuel reserve is 7.5 tons. The integrated propulsion system of the Buran spacecraft is a complex system that includes 48 engines: 2 orbital maneuvering engines to bring the device into orbit with a thrust of 8.8 tons, 38 motion control jet engines with a thrust of 390 kg and 8 more engines for precision movements ( accurate orientation) with a pull of 20 kg. All these engines are fed from single tanks with hydrocarbon fuel "cycline" and liquid oxygen.

Orbital maneuvering engines are located in the tail compartment of the Buran, and control engines are located in the blocks of the nose and tail compartments. Early designs also called for two 8-ton thrust jet engines to enable deep lateral maneuver flight in landing mode. These engines did not make it into later ship designs.

The Buran engines make it possible to perform the following main operations: stabilization of the Energia-Buran complex before its separation from the second stage, separation and removal of the Burana spacecraft from the launch vehicle, bringing it to the initial orbit, formation and correction of the working orbit, orientation and stabilization, interorbital transitions, rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft, deorbit and deceleration, control of the spacecraft's position relative to its center of mass, etc.

At all stages of the flight, the Buran is controlled by the electronic brain of the ship, it also controls the operation of all on-board systems and provides navigation. In the final ascent phase, it controls the entry into the reference orbit. During orbital flight, it provides orbit correction, deorbiting and immersion into the atmosphere to an acceptable height with subsequent return to the working orbit, program turns and orientation, interorbital transitions, hovering, rendezvous and docking with a cooperating object, spinning around any of the three axes. During descent, it controls the ship's deorbit, its descent in the atmosphere, the necessary lateral maneuvers, arrival at the airfield and landing.

The basis of the automatic ship control system is a high-speed computing complex, represented by four interchangeable computers. The complex is capable of instantly solving all tasks within the framework of its functions and, first of all, linking the current ballistic parameters of the ship with the flight program. The Buran's automatic control system is so perfect that during future flights the ship's crew in this system is considered only as a link that duplicates the automation. This was the fundamental difference between the Soviet shuttle and the American shuttles - our Buran could perform the entire flight in automatic unmanned mode, go into space, safely return to earth and land at the airfield, which was clearly demonstrated by its only flight in 1988. The landing of the American shuttles was carried out entirely on manual control with idle engines.

Our car was much more maneuverable, more complex, smarter than its American predecessors and could automatically perform a wider range of functions.

In addition, Buran developed an emergency crew rescue system in case of emergency. At low altitudes, a catapult for the first two pilots was intended for this; in the event of an emergency at a sufficient height, the ship could disconnect from the launch vehicle and make an emergency landing.

For the first time in rocket science, a diagnostic system was used on a spacecraft, covering all spacecraft systems, connecting backup sets of equipment or switching to a backup mode in case of possible malfunctions.

The device is designed for 100 flights in both autonomous and manned modes.

The present

The winged spacecraft "Buran" did not find peaceful use, since the program itself was defense and could not be integrated into the peaceful economy, especially after the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, it was a great technological breakthrough, dozens of new technologies and new materials were worked out at Buran, and it is a pity that these achievements were not applied and developed further.

Where are the famous Buranas in the past, on which the best minds, thousands of workers worked, and on which so much effort was spent and so many hopes were placed?

In total, there were five copies of the Buran winged ship, including unfinished and started vehicles.

1.01 "Buran" - carried out the only unmanned space flight. It was stored at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the assembly and test building. At the time of destruction during the collapse of the roof in May 2002, it was the property of Kazakhstan.

1.02 - the ship was intended for the second flight in autopilot mode and docking with the Mir space station. It is also owned by Kazakhstan and installed in the museum of the Baikonur Cosmodrome as an exhibit.

2.01 - the readiness of the ship was 30 - 50%. He was at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant until 2004, then spent 7 years on the pier of the Khimki reservoir. And, finally, in 2011 it was transported for restoration to the Zhukovsky airfield.

2.02 - 10-20% readiness. Partially dismantled on the stocks of the Tushino plant.

2.03 - the backlog was completely destroyed.

Possible perspectives

The Energia-Buran project was closed, among other things, due to the unnecessary delivery of large cargoes into orbit, as well as their return. Being built more for defense than for peaceful purposes, in the era of "star wars", the domestic space shuttle "Buran" was far ahead of its time.
Who knows, maybe his time will come. When space exploration becomes more active, when it will be necessary to frequently deliver cargo and passengers to orbit and vice versa.

And when the designers finalize that part of the program that concerns the preservation and relatively safe return to earth of the stages of the launch vehicle, i.e., they make the system for launching into orbit more convenient, which will significantly reduce the cost and make reusable not only the use of a cruise ship, but also the system " Energy-Buran" in general.

To create the airframe for the Buran orbital spacecraft, a specialized enterprise was formed on the basis of three design bureaus (Design Bureau Molniya, Design Bureau Burevestnik and the Experimental Machine-Building Plant headed by General Designer Vladimir Myasishchev) - the Scientific and Production Association Molniya. Tushino Machine-Building Plant was chosen as the main production base. The new association was headed by Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, who back in the 1960s worked on the Spiral reusable aerospace system project.

Currently, several layouts and flight copies have been preserved.

The flying spacecraft "Buran" was mothballed and left in the assembly and test building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). In 2002, the ship was completely destroyed when the roof of the hull collapsed on it.

The second ship, which was supposed to fly in automatic mode with docking with the manned Mir station, remained at Baikonur. In April 2007, it was installed in the exposition of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum. It is the property of Kazakhstan.

The third ship (the degree of readiness of the ship at the time of the cessation of work was 30-50%) until 2004 was in the workshops of the Tushino Machine-Building Plant, in October 2004 it was transported to the pier of the Khimki reservoir for temporary storage. In June 2011, it was transported by river transport to the airfield in the city of Zhukovsky for restoration and subsequent display at the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS-2011).

After the air show, a model of a spacecraft in one of the pavilions of the Ramenskoye (Zhukovsky) airfield.

One of the models of Buran - Buran BTS-002, after the closure of the program in 1993, NPO Molniya demonstrated at the air show of the International Aviation and Space Salon. In 1999, the model was leased to an Australian company to be shown at the Sydney Olympics, and then to a Singaporean company that took it to Bahrain. In 2003, NPO Molniya sold Buran BTS-002 to the private Technical Museum in Speyer (Germany), where it arrived on April 12, 2008. It is currently installed in the Speyer Technical Museum as an exhibit.

Another full-size Buran model (BTS-001), which was used to test the air transportation of the orbital complex, was leased to the Cosmos-Earth company in 1993. "Buran" was installed in Moscow on the Pushkinskaya embankment of the Moskva River in the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure, a scientific and educational attraction was organized in it. Now it is one of the attractions of the park.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources