So I saw Buran (Russian space shuttle) today...

... in the Technik Museum Speyer in Germany. The museum itself is great (featuring loads of cars, trains, ships, a submarine, a 747, a Antonov etc), but the Buran shuttle is just breathtaking. Hope you enjoy the pics!


Some things to notice:

a) I wouldn't have flown with that thing. Closer inspection of the inside did not help to build trust in the craftsmenship of the Buran engineers and mechanics
b) The hinges of the bay covers are TINY. Look at them in the last picture, you can barely see them! Then again, the gaps between the cover panels have very generous tolerances.
c) The wiring is adventurous
d) It is HUGE. Huge as in *H*U*G*E. I never thought it was that big. Just spectacular!
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Is this the actual shuttle or a replica? I thought the original was destroyed.

at any rate, I wouldn't go into space in that!

 

Awesome pictures, thanks for posting them.

Notice the jet engines for self-powered flight, something our Shuttle doesn't have. The Buran also lacks the main rocket engines.

A building collapsed on the only one that flew, destroying it completely (2002).

Apparently, another example has been purchased by the Australians.

 

It's the prototype that was used for test flights (not in space). It's the only shuttle with jet engines, as Wade noticed. The one that really flew into space was destroyed.

The shuttle I saw today is the one that travelled through the world - from Australia to Bahrein, where the owners got into financial trouble IIRC and the German Formula1 film team (!) discovered it in some junk yard in the desert.

 

It looks like they used a healthy mix of Lego's and Bondo.

 

+1.

 

The Buran could also be launched on the missile and land on earth without a pilot on board. Thanks for the pictures.

 

I was about to say... that thing looks like it was made with legos.

 

In 1990 I had a wonderful experience with the Russians that were here for the Abottsford and Everett airshows. My sons and I found them to be wonderful people; friendly , humorous, and very competent. We spent 4 days with them and took them off the political trail to a friends place in the San Juan Islands where we had an absolute ball with them. We entertained the chief pilot, Victor Zabilotsky and an entourage of absolutely amazing translators who could switch technical Russian to technical English as we spoke. They were unbelievably pretty young ladies! When we flew from our host's residence on San Juan Island back to Paine Field in three airplanes, the Russian pilot (who had never flown a C-182) formed up with us on take off and stayed there on our right wing until we arrived at Everett and stayed there on flying the pattern and stayed there on final and landing. We announced our arrival as a group of three and the tower acknowledged that they noticed that there were three aircraft in tight formation on final. We landed as a group. During the Paine Field airshow I was invited to have a tour of the cockpit and given a seat in the left position where I was utterly flabbergasted by the crude and primitive instrument panel of the airliner that they were flying, an IL 62. The interior was not only crude but filthy. The food service emminated from an ancient rusty old household refridgerator that was ROPED to the side of the aircraft. To separate things there were old plywood panels that were set up with who knows what . The upper surface of the wing had a 2 inch thick slab of aluminum that was bolted to it to add support to the landing gear rib. It was given a rudimentary 45 deg. chamfer on all edges and the bolts to fasten it were uncovered and the recesses in which the heads resided were collecting all kinds of dirt and corrosion. I got the feeling that they were interested in getting the job done with a minimum of input but that they were extremely intelligent, warm, and objective driven, and I would hate to face them in a war. Very much like us but resolute and tough.
Switches

 

Is the Buran about the same size as the Space Shuttle? Somehow I always had the impression it was much smaller.

 

Nice pictures. This one was never designed for space if I recall correctly. The jet engines were put on so it could do flight testing for landings. NASA did something similar by building Enterprise, but didn't put jet engines on it. They just released it from a 747...

The actual Burans don't have the jet engines.

 

That makes sense. There's no way that the jet engines could survive re-entry.

 

LMAO!!! That's exactly what I said!

Also could be considered a giant birthday cake.

 

I want this in my backyard...

http://englishrussia.com/?p=3133

 

Here are a couple more.

Moscow (still here I think)
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=55.728696&lon=37.5968724&z=18&l=0&m=b

Baikonur (this was here 3 years ago)
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=45.9196133&lon=63.3099443&z=18&l=0&m=b

Les

 

Great links, thanks!

Did anyone play Fallout 3? This picture could be straight out of that game... I'd love to visit that place!!
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