The fate of the legendary Buran shuttle

In September 1988, the Soviet Union announced that the shuttles news about the shuttle could be used many times by them. But the means of special significance for the Soviet and Russian space programs will only take off once.

The entire Buran launcher scene before departure time.Photo: Remmirath.

The newsletter with a photo of a space shuttle resembled a US ship, but painted the Soviet insignia that appeared on Pravda daily on September 30, 1988 ended the rumor for many years. the country is building many types of spacecraft used many times. Then the Soviet press wrote that although the two ships were very similar in appearance, the Buran (in Russian means snowstorm) is superior and has more features than American ships.

Only a few days later, Buran had the opportunity to prove it. Dawn on 11/15/1988, in extreme weather conditions with snow and wind swirling around Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, the Buran was launched into space by the giant Energia rocket. 206 minutes later, the 100-ton "iron bird" gently landed on the runway, only a few miles from the launch site, after circling the earth for two rounds.

Despite very strong wind conditions (up to 61.2 km / hour) it is possible to force American shuttles to stop all take-offs and landings, but Buran has made a perfect flight with a self-landing screen. impressive performance at Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The program to build Buran systems - Energia began in 1976, bringing together the "gray matter" and the work of 600 agencies throughout the Soviet Union. This is the largest and most complex project in the history of Soviet aerospace industry, costing 20 billion USD.

After Buran's first space flight, the Soviet press promised a new era in space exploration. But in fact, the launch flight of the Buran is its last flight.

In the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, there was always a fear of "nuclear attack" from the United States. The scenario of a "diving" space shuttle into the atmosphere and suddenly appearing in Moscow's sky to kill death is always in the minds of the people as well as the state leaders.

Years after the Americans were out of hope of using a space shuttle for military purposes - including the simple task of transporting and "scattering" spy satellites - this mentality is still very universal. turn in Soviet society.

Valentin Glushko - the project master of the project - belongs to a generation of Soviet scientists pioneering the field of missiles. He began his research career from the 30s of the last century under the patronage of Konstantin Tsiolkovky, the father of the Soviet aerospace industry. Like many scientists at the same time, Glushko had little interest in designing weapons and always cherished the dream of building a permanent base on the moon.

Valetin Glushko probably exploited the Cold War "paranoia" of the risk of military attacks from the US space shuttle to fulfill his dream of flying to the moon, even up to his Mars.

To fulfill that intention, Glushko cautiously "drove" the Buran Project - Energia in a way that changed from the original intentions of military leaders to build the "version" of the US space shuttle. Instead, he proposed to build a winged ship with a fully functional super-heavy rocket, which can launch all kinds of equipment onto space, from spacecraft landing to the moon to tugs. or modules of the Mars exploration complex .

After repeated delays and overspending, the Buran launched in the final phase of the Cold War, in the context of the Soviet economy showing signs of recession. The collapse of the Soviet Union in September 1991 put an end to the future of the Buran project - Energia. Later, the shuttle and some of the project's test equipment became the property of Kazakhstan.

In the mid-90s of the last century, Buran was attached to an Energia model for display at the 112 building at Baikonur space airport. But on May 12, 2002, an accident happened when 8 workers carried out the repair of the dilapidated ceiling of this hangar. The building shook as if it had an earthquake and collapsed, burying the once-proud pride of the Soviet aerospace industry.

Buran has "died", but the technologies developed for this project are widely used around the world. The powerful R-170 engine, which was built for the first floor of the Energia rocket, was used by Ukraine for their Zenit missile. The RD-180 and RD-190 smaller engines are used by Russia for the next generation Angara missiles and the Americans use them for their Atlas boosters.

When Russia joined the International Space Station Installation Project (ISS), many breeding scientists hope to see the Energia rocket re-export. According to them, just use some Energia missiles to push ISS into space. But some international partners did not approve of this plan. As a result, after 10 years (1998-2008) and dozens of assembled flights, ISS has not been completed yet.

The view of using a super-heavy rocket like Energia is reviving when the moon exploration is showing signs of resuming on both sides of the Atlantic. If this happens, scientists today will have to follow the path outlined by Valentin Glushko and his colleagues.