Back when the former Soviet Union was still shelling out the mega bucks in the space race someone decided that they needed a space plane. I guess they read and believed all the hype and press that the US shuttle program had gotten back in the Nixon years. Two week turn around times, $50US per pound as a payload cost, on budget… Yeah, if everything would have worked out things up there would be pretty sweet. Anyway, The Soviets ‘found’ some plans and built there own. By 1988 they were flight testing the crafts. The Russian shuttles were never launched with a crew, for it’s space testing everything was done by remote. That’s something that the Russians have mastered, running entire space missions 100% from the ground (I’m not counting space probes, those aren’t man rated vehicles). By 1993 the Buran program was cancelled and they fleet of five space shuttles were either dismantled or sold. The one in these pictures could be of Buran Ptichka or ‘little bird’, if they are somewhat current. Wikipedia says that it’s in the MIK building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It’s sad to see such a fine example of space hardware just sitting out in the open like that.
[via English Russia]
There is lot of informations there:
http://www.buran-energia.com