~~|~~ Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City, Russia BURAN ~ The Russian Space Shuttle ~~

~~@Com~~ On the net Since 1994	HOME	Buran in Gorky Park

BURAN... It's for amusement now... January 2001
		Please fasten your seatbelts... Meteor shower ahead!!	15 November Launch 1988 Video also spaceistheplace.ca
			Sit in the cockpit Party in the cockpit!
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Gorky Park is an an amusement park...statues, rides, games. It's also where the Russian space shuttle, the BURAN is parked. The design of the Buran was started in 1974. The American shuttle design was studied intensively by Russian rocket scientists, but aspects of it were rejected based on Soviet engineering analysis. Parallel liquid propellant boosters were created. These would use a 700 ton thrust, four-chamber Lox/Kerosene engine which had already been under development.
NEXT: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Launch

The first and only orbital launch of the shuttle Buran was on November 15, 1988. The flight was unmanned. It was launched on the powerful Energiya booster into an 247 by 256 km orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination. The Buran orbited the Earth twice before firing its thrusters for reentry. The flight touched down at Tyuratum. The mission was limited to 2 orbits. The autopilot that landed the shuttle was able to overcome a 34 mph crosswinds. It landed within 1.5 meters of the runway center line. Of the 38,000 heat shield tiles that covered Buran, only 5 were missing.

Cancellation

After the first flight of Buran, funding for the project was cut. There were two other Buran shuttles under construction. The second orbiter, "Ptichka" ("Little Bird") was originally scheduled for completion in 1990. The third Buran was due in 1992. Neither was finished. In November 1995, the partially completed shuttles were dismantled at their production site.

In June the Buran was flown to Paris on the new An-225 carrier aircraft for display at the Paris air show.

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The crew

It costs $15 for the ride and it's worth it!
The people are friendly and the ride is very interesting!

Buran ca. 1988

Buran in Gorky Park, Moscow. View from across the river. July 2003.
(Picture was taken from a moving Taxi, digitally enhanced.) Viewed from the other side.

The two shuttles

Links:
Buran on YouTube
http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/craft/buran.htm
CD: The Flight of the Buran

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