posted 03-23-2018 05:24 PM               

Space Cover 460: Buran OK-GLI Story

Well gentlemen, I do not have anything unique to show but I do have a story...

Built in 1984 OK-GLI (BST-002) was the Soviet equivalent of the American Enterprise ALT vehicle with the ability to take off and land using its own turbojets. The spacecraft accomplished only 24 test flights but its early retirement proved to be far from quiet and honorable.

This story can be a good foundation for a criminal TV show but I will not dive into details just mention the milestones. Actually there is more to tell than to show in terms of astrophilately so I decided to put some pictures from the internet to make the reading less boring.

After the closure of Buran program in 1993, OK-GLI took part in several MAKS air shows and in 2000 has been leased to the Australian company to be exhibited during summer Olympics in Sydney. The details of this deal remain confidential until now but there are rumors that the amount was not paid as the company went bankrupt before the event cancelling the show.

It stayed in Australia until 2002 and was bought by a Singaporean company which took the spacecraft to Bahrain for its first airshow. Upon one version - Singaporeans have paid initial part and tried to cheat on NPO Molnia to get the OK-GLI without paying the rest using forged documents, another version claims a corruption of the NPO Molnia leadership who have made certain arrangements and sold the vehicle for a ridicules amount plus "a solid personal commission."

A couple of years later journalists have found OK-GLI resting on the sandy field in Bahrain, this info got to the Russian Consulate and generated an official ricochet that led to criminal investigation. Despite heavy legal pressure from Singaporeans, Russians managed to ban the further OK-GLI transportation and reclaimed the ownership. In 2004 it was sold to German privately owned Speyer Technik museum. This deal had several faces as well and the amount is uncertain.

OK-GLI remained in Bahrain until 2008 when all the NPO Molnia legal suits were completed and started its final voyage to Germany in March 2008. A month later it arrived to Rotterdam and was transported on barge by the Rhine River to Speyer. The exhibition has been opened on October 3, 2008 and it looks OK-GLI finally found its home.

In 2013 a local postal service provider – RegioPost Pfalz, issued a series of Technik Museum stamps, one of them devoted to the exhibited OK-GLI. The cover above is a FDOI cover. The cover below is a real mailed item using the OK-GLI stamp with RegioPost cancellation.