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Buran (spacecraft)

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This article is about the Buran spacecraft; for the space program see Buran program. For other uses of the term, see Buran.
Buran
Russian: Буран
File:Buran energia 2C.jpg
Buran On Launch Pad
CountrySoviet Union
Named after"Snowstorm" [1]
StatusDecommissioned, destroyed in hangar collapse
First flight1K1
15 November 1988 [1]
Last flight1K1
15 November 1988 [1]
No. of missions1 [1]
Crew members0 [1]
Days spent in space3 hours
No. of orbits2 [1]
Buran on the back of an Antonov An-225 at Le Bourget, outside of Paris
File:Buran On Antonov225.jpg
Buran being carried by the An-225.

The Buran spacecraft (Буран, "snowstorm" or "blizzard"), serial number 11F35 K1, was the only fully completed and operational space shuttle from the Soviet Union's Buran program. It had only one (unmanned) spaceflight, in 1988, before the program was cancelled in 1993. It was destroyed by a hangar collapse in 2002.

Like its American counterpart, the Buran, when in transit from its landing sites back to the launch complex, was transported on the back of a large jet airplane. It was piggy-backed on the Antonov An-225 aircraft, which was designed for this task and remains the largest powered aircraft in the world.

First flight

The first and only orbital launch of the (unmanned) shuttle Buran 1.01 was at 3:00 UTC on 15 November 1988. It was lifted into orbit by the specially designed Energia booster rocket. The life support system was not installed and no software was installed to run the computer display screens. [1]

The shuttle orbited the Earth twice in 206 minutes of flight[2]. On its return, it performed an automated landing on the shuttle runway at Baikonur Cosmodrome, where despite a lateral wind speed of 17 metres/second it made a successful landing only 3 metres laterally and 10 metres longitudinally from the target. [2]

Video

Part of the launch was televised, but the actual liftoff was not shown. This led to some speculation that the mission may have been fabricated, and that the subsequent landing may not have been from orbit but from a shuttle-carrying aircraft, as with the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Since then, the launch video has been released to the public, confirming that the shuttle did indeed lift off, with the poor weather conditions described by the Soviet media at the time easily seen. [3]

Projected flights

As of 1989, it was projected that Buran would have an unmanned second flight in 1993, with a duration of 15-20 days. [4] Due to the cancellation of the project, this never took place.

Destruction

On May 12, 2002, a hangar housing a Buran 1.01 orbiter (possibly the actual Buran that flew in 1988) collapsed due to incomplete maintenance. The collapse killed eight workers and destroyed the orbiter as well as a mockup of an Energia booster rocket.[1]

See also

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References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Buran". NASA. 12 November 1997. Retrieved 2006-08-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b Chertok, Boris (2005). Asif A. Siddiqi (ed.). Raketi i lyudi (trans. "Rockets and People") (PDF). NASA History Series. p. 179. Retrieved 2006-07-03.
  3. ^ "Video: Soviet Shuttle Buran Launch". vunet.ru. Retrieved 2006-09-13.
  4. ^ "Экипажи "Бурана" Несбывшиеся планы". buran.ru. Retrieved 2006-08-05. Template:Ru icon
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