Buran Shuttle

[montyben101]

Why was the buran shuttle canceled? Not just that I have seen lots of pictures of buran cockpits rotting away, forget in fields or somthing?

[Redjoker]

The Soviet Union was facing terrible economic hardships in the late 80's and when it fell in 91 Russia had even less money resulted in its cancelation in 93. To make matters worse, the hanger that housed the completed orbiter and the in progress ones collapsed in 2002 and damaged them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran_hangar_collapse

[iDan122]

Shuttles are prestigiously in museums, and the Buran rots on some dump, how ironic

[Kryten]

Shuttles are prestigiously in museums, and the Buran rots on some dump, how ironic

The ones rotting in fields are structural test articles and mockups, not real spacecraft. The shuttle mockups aren't fairing much better.

[Nibb31]

Why was the buran shuttle canceled? Not just that I have seen lots of pictures of buran cockpits rotting away, forget in fields or somthing?

There was this little event in the late 80's you might have heard of...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union

[Themohawkninja]

Well according to a secretary of the ambassador of the Soviet Union, the Buran program was superior to the Space Shuttle program. I think he was just being sarcastic to me when he told my friend and I that, though.

To answer your question though, it was due to the political atmosphere of the Soviet Union (it was about to collapse), a lack of funds, and a hanger collapse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Cancellation_.281993.29

[Simon Ross]

Well according to a secretary of the ambassador of the Soviet Union, the Buran program was superior to the Space Shuttle program. I think he was just being sarcastic to me when he told my friend and I that, though.

To answer your question though, it was due to the political atmosphere of the Soviet Union (it was about to collapse), a lack of funds, and a hanger collapse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Cancellation_.281993.29

To a certain extent he was correct, Buran had a heaver payload to orbit capability, could be flown manned or unmanned and was a pure liquid fuelled system unlike the Shuttle

[Firov]

To a certain extent he was correct, Buran had a heaver payload to orbit capability, could be flown manned or unmanned and was a pure liquid fuelled system unlike the Shuttle

It also had the rather unfortunate habit of throwing away it's engines after every launch due to the fact that, unlike the NASA shuttle, it relied on a conventional launch vehicle to achieve orbit in the form of the Energia booster.

Still, the Buran had some interesting capabilities, at least on paper. Unfortunately, we'll never know if it could have lived up to that promise since the sole flight capable craft was destroyed in a hanger collapse.

[Kryten]

The second one was (and still is) in a different hangar, and is something like 95% complete. Main problem with restarting the program is Energiya, not Buran itself.

[Camacha]

The second one was (and still is) in a different hangar, and is something like 95% complete. Main problem with restarting the program is Energiya, not Buran itself.

I do not think you could reuse those craft. You would have to do a total rebuild and -design, probably making a newly built craft cheaper.

[Simon Ross]

It also had the rather unfortunate habit of throwing away it's engines after every launch due to the fact that, unlike the NASA shuttle, it relied on a conventional launch vehicle to achieve orbit in the form of the Energia booster.

Still, the Buran had some interesting capabilities, at least on paper. Unfortunately, we'll never know if it could have lived up to that promise since the sole flight capable craft was destroyed in a hanger collapse.

Very true

It did however make it a much more flexible system as it enabled Energia to perform a number of different roles with a range of payloads, HLV, Buran lift etc...

It's actually quite surprising how much Energia technology is still in use today, Zenit boosters, RD-170 and 180 engines etc...

[Cdodders]

It also had the rather unfortunate habit of throwing away it's engines after every launch due to the fact that, unlike the NASA shuttle, it relied on a conventional launch vehicle to achieve orbit in the form of the Energia booster.

Still, the Buran had some interesting capabilities, at least on paper. Unfortunately, we'll never know if it could have lived up to that promise since the sole flight capable craft was destroyed in a hanger collapse.

It threw away its Launch vehicle, but it still had OMS engines and production Buran's were going to have gas turbines to make landing easier