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Author
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Topic: Fate of Russian Buran space shuttle OK-2.01
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted September 29, 2010 07:36 AM
   
This photo gallery from MK.ru shows what looks to be the shell of a Russian Buran orbiter discarded as trash: Seemingly abandoned spaceship on the streets of Moscow - it is something from the realm of fantasy. But alas, this is the true reality. Correspondent "MK" discovered orbiting Soviet "Buran" placed like garbage on the outskirts of the capital. Nobody cares what was once a symbol of cosmic power of our country.  Anyone have an idea as to which Buran model this is? |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 2551
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted September 29, 2010 08:07 AM
The owner of this site probably knows... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted September 29, 2010 08:13 AM
Comparing photos and reports on that site to the one from the MK.ru gallery, it would appear to be Buran OK-2.01: The completion of model 2.01 at the stop of the project was estimated to 30-50%. As you can see on the photographs it seems that it has been dismantled, after few years in the Tushino factory, near Moscow, it was moved in October 2004 on a car-park. In particular, the photos posted here seem to be a match. |
Greggy_D
Member Posts: 431
From: Michigan
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted September 29, 2010 08:53 AM
What a shame. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 820
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted September 29, 2010 09:45 AM
That's really sad. What's going to happen to it? |
MrSpace86
Member Posts: 1270
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted September 29, 2010 10:13 AM
That Buran-Energia site is the best website out there for all things Buran. You can spend hours reading all the information on such a tragic program.As for this particular Buran, it seems the Soviets don't mind people going up to the Shuttle and just photographing components and even taking samples. It would be interesting if one of the USA museums that don't get a US Space Shuttle, try to get this or any other Russian Space Shuttle, restore it, and have it on display. It's free to dream, isn't it?  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted September 29, 2010 10:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by MrSpace86:
As for this particular Buran, it seems the Soviets don't mind people going up to the Shuttle and just photographing components and even taking samples.
As the Moscow News clarifies, the Buran is not open to the public but can be accessed by averting security. It's not that easy to reach the abandoned spaceship, but it is possible, writes Moskovsky Komsomolets. Buran's resting place is also a storage spot for construction materials and is protected by a security guard and barbed wire fences.But a side entry through a neighbouring plot can beat the security and grant an up-close look at the remains of the space-age dream. |
MrSpace86
Member Posts: 1270
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted July 10, 2011 12:34 AM
I thought this article would interest some of you. Buran 2.01 (the third Buran "built") will be restored! The article has some really interesting photos that I have never seen before. I think it is quite informative. Enjoy and post more info or pics if you find it! Editor's note: Threads merged. |
dom
Member Posts: 324
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted July 10, 2011 04:22 PM
This is great news and certainly looks like $120,000 well spent!These Russian orbiters need to be saved and put on display just like their NASA counterparts. Nothing like them will ever be built again. Unfortunately the original flown Buran shuttle is now landfill after being destroyed in a tragic roof collapse in 2002, whilst the second orbiter (97% complete) is the property of Kazakhstan and is locked away in a hangar in Baikonur. If this one is restored it might be the only "real" Soviet shuttle anyone will get to see up-close. |
MrSpace86
Member Posts: 1270
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted July 10, 2011 05:46 PM
I did run into a few photos taken in 2008 where the building that housed Buran 1.01 (the flown one) has been pretty untouched since the roof collapse. Buran is still sitting there, mangled, torn, destroyed, abandoned. Kind of grotesque if you ask me. |
BMacKinnon
Member Posts: 100
From: Waterford, MI. USA
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted August 30, 2011 08:12 PM
There is a Buran on display in Germany.The BURAN prototype OK-GLI shown in the Technik MUSEUM SPEYER was built in 1984 and was used for testing gliding-flight and landing after reentry into the atmosphere (from their website). |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted August 30, 2011 08:23 PM
More about the Buran-Analogue 002 (OK-GLI) at the Speyer Technical Museum can be read here. |
328KF
Member Posts: 609
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted August 30, 2011 09:11 PM
Are there any records of which pilots/ cosmonauts flew the prototype in approach and landing tests? |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2111
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted September 01, 2011 09:55 AM
The descriptive tables at the Speyer museum do exactly have this information and some video footage from the ALT tests too, but I have not taken any notes during my visit there last May. |
turk242
New Member Posts: 6
From: Monterey, CA USA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted October 08, 2011 08:34 AM
When I was in college, I studied in Moscow and right outside my dorm window was the Buran in Gorky Park. Not sure which version but it was around 1994. At the time it was a gimmicky venture and was turned it into a restaurant. I never went but looked at it everyday and was even then a little sad at how much vandalism and graffiti adorned this once amazing machine. A couple of years later my family became friends with Leonid Kadenyuk (STS-87). My parents worked at KSC for over 20 years and if it had to do with the Russians - they were often involved (we are Russian). I remember Kadenyuk giving me a cool color print of Buran landing with Mig chase planes escorting. I could swear he told me he was piloting the chase. Dad said he remembered the discussion at the time was one Buran was an engineering flight - unmanned/ remotely flown and that's the flight I think Kadenyuk was chasing. The other however, he said it was really hard to get any info on, but the Cosmonauts alluded to it ending very badly - a crash with no survivors. If this is old info apologies. |
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