1/11/2024 0 Comments Buran shuttle in hangarWhen faced with the requirement to make a 200mt thrust LOX/LH2 engine, in tandem with reusability, the Soviets decided to ditch the reusable requirement. The Soviets had only built experimental engines, as opposed to the American who had built and operated RL-10 and J-2. However, the Soviet decision to place the main engines on the external tank, as opposed to the orbiter, also stemmed from lack of Soviet experience with LOX/LH2. Lagging behind the United States in their design of large Solid Rocket motors, an early decision was made to utilize liquid propulsion to power the stack off the launch pad. However, there were major departure points, not least on the propulsion side. With Soviet engineers tasked with creating a competitor to the US Shuttle, the basis for Buran resulted in mirroring both the capabilities and design of the US Shuttle, resulting in the two orbiters having a very similar appearance. See AlsoĪs such, Buran was focused as becoming a military asset, which also resulted in the program becoming classified.Īligned with the public knowledge of the US Shuttle’s development program, RKK Energia managed the Buran response from 1974, under the Reusable Space System (MKS) program. The Soviets believed the US Shuttle had a key role in America’s military ambitions and feared the system could even be used to deploy nuclear payloads over Soviet territory. She was destroyed during the collapse of her hanger roof at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2002.ĭeveloped by Gleb Lozino-Lozinskiy, Chief Designer at NPO Molniya, Buran was designed to be a direct competitor to the US Space Shuttle. It was to be her only flight in space, with the program mothballed in 1993, following the dissolution of the USSR. Under a veil of secrecy, the Soviet Space Shuttle “Buran” launched on her maiden mission 25 years ago.
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