Buran new home, is now in Germany Options

[climber]

This is an "unmanned" Topic on the Manned section of Unmannedspaceflight

Buran resting place will be in southern germany : http://www.space.com/news/080409-buran-germany.html

[Tesheiner]

Great!
I'll have to find some spare time during my next trip to Germany to see it again. I was once on that museum, it's really a "must see", and it will be nice to meet Buran again. I saw it for the first (and only) time at the Le Bourget exibition many many years ago.

Edited: I looked around for information from other sources and the "bird" going to the museum is not really Buran (i.e. the one flown to space) but the test article used for approach and landing, like "Enterprise" was for the STS program.

[ilbasso]

Yup. This is the sad fate of the "real" Buran - cockpit windows are in the lower half of the frame.

[tedstryk]

This Buran, "OK-GLI," was a test vehicle that made several test flights much akin to the U.S. Space Shuttle Enterprise. It had already been retired at the time of the Buran orbital flight. It was a rather interesting bird. Unlike the Buran that orbited, it had jet engines, so it could fly to high altitudes under it's own power (unlike Enterprise) and then descend as if it was coming in from orbit. It flew with a crew at least 25 times. Sadly, Ilbasso is right about the fate of the Buran orbiter. Due to lack of maintenance, a warehouse roof collapsed on it, destroying it. Worse, 8 warehouse employees were killed.

[nprev]

What a tragic loss...the poor employees and also history.

I'm mad as hell, but don't know who or what to be mad at, if anyone or anything. There was so much chaos and poverty after the Soviet Union fell...dammit. Just a crying shame, is all.

[Greg Hullender]

I don't know. Check out these two articles on MSNBC this week:

How the Soviets Stole a Space Shuttle

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18686090/

How the Soviet Space Shuttle Fizzled

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18686550/

It ends with this: Gherman Titov, the second man in space after Yuri Gagarin and never a supporter of such a huge, duplicative project, was more direct. “It would be better if we just cut it up for scrap ... for that is all that it is worth.”

--Greg

[nprev]

Good links, Greg, and the best synopsis of the story of Buran I've read; thanks!

All I was bemoaning is the neglect that led to deaths and the inability to preserve a unique artifact from an odd chapter of the history of space exploration. I hope that when the Shuttles retire that they are protected and preserved properly unlike this (and, although less extreme, better than many of the Apollo artifacts have been treated over the years).

[climber]

Great!
I'll have to find some spare time during my next trip to Germany to see it again. I was once on that museum, it's really a "must see", and it will be nice to meet Buran again. I saw it for the first (and only) time at the Le Bourget exibition many many years ago.

Edited: I looked around for information from other sources and the "bird" going to the museum is not really Buran (i.e. the one flown to space) but the test article used for approach and landing, like "Enterprise" was for the STS program.

I've seen Entreprise at Le Bourget. It was the Year Mc Enroe stoped playing at Rolland Garros while Entreprise was flying overhead (on her 747).
BTW, sorry for this not precise enough reporting... even if it's not that bad to see a test article.

[Big_Gazza]

"How the Soviets Stole a Space Shuttle"

"How the Soviet Space Shuttle Fizzled"

What utter rubbish. Reading these biased hachet-jobs, one would think that the Buran orbiters were some sort of stolen xerox-copy of the US Shuttle. That is complete nonsense. The Buran orbiter was an aerodynamic copy of the Shuttle because that is what the customer (Soviet Military) wanted, ie a like-for-like equivalent of what they believed would be a strategic weapon system. From the outside it looks very similar (especially to technically-challenged journalists) but internally the Buran was engineered indigenously using Soviet technology & engineering practises.

This shoddy and parochial "journalism" is just another example refusing to give the Soviets appropriate recognition for their acheivements. Mean spirited and petty, some people just don't get that the Cold War is over.

[Big_Gazza]

While we are on the subject, does anyone have any info on the 2nd planned spaceworthy orbiter, often referred to as Pitchka or "Little Bird"?

Last I heard, it had been completed to 98% of flight readiness. Russia has apparently given it to Kazakstan in repayment for debts, and it remains somewhere at Baikonour Cosmodrome in mothballed condition.

Now THAT would make a fabulous museum exhibit!

[Dominik]

What I know is, that one of the Buran Orbiters (finished or unfinished, I don't know) now is a home for 4-5 families. I've seen it in a german documentation about Baikonur.

I've added a screenshot from that documentation.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Toma B]

I've added a screenshot from that documentation.

Do you have that "documentation" somewhere on internet?
Perhaps a link to it?

My interest in astronomy & astronautics dates back to 1986. Buran was my "first love". I literally felt in love with that piece of art they called Energiya-Buran when I first saw it.....all that potential laid to waste. DAMN!!!!
Now when I see what has happened to it I cannot shake of this feeling of loss like I lost dear friend or something like that....
I try not to read or wright anything about Energiya-Buran anymore but I guess I just can't help it sometimes....
<EMOTIONS>

Sorry for my English.....

[Dominik]

I've got it recorded to my computer. Since stage6.divx.com is down, I've never seen it on the web again. That documentation is called "Weltraumbahnhof Baikonur" and was also available in french, called "Le cosmodrome de Baikonur". Maybe you can find it somewhere on the web, but I don't know where to start searching.

[Shaka]

Look on the bright side, Toma, you may have lost a friend, but you've gained "4 - 5 families".

[Ulysses]

Do you have that "documentation" somewhere on internet?
Perhaps a link to it?

I haven't posted on here before, but I do have one or more links to this documentary. Could someone clue me in if torrent (and similar) links are allowed on this board?