Two abandoned Soviet space shuttles left in the Kazakh steppe (2017)
4 hours ago
- #Soviet Space Program
- #Cold War History
- #Space Exploration
- The Buran program was the Soviet Union’s response to the U.S. space shuttle, part of the Cold War arms race, and was designed to match the shuttle’s payload capacity.
- Structural differences included the Buran orbiter having no engines (unlike the U.S. shuttle), being attached to the Energia rocket, and featuring safety improvements like emergency ejects seats.
- Buran completed only one unmanned flight in November 1988 before the program was suspended; it was eventually canceled in 1993 after the Soviet Union’s collapse due to lack of funding and political support.
- Despite being more capable and safer in some aspects, the shuttles were abandoned, with one destroyed in a hangar collapse and others left to rust in Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome.
- Logistical and financial hurdles have prevented the preservation or relocation of the remaining shuttles, though there have been occasional discussions about turning the site into a museum.