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I can't believe I'm about to defend the Russians here but... Not only were they first to pretty much everything space-related, they're the only country still fl
by SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
I can't believe I'm about to defend the Russians here but... Not only were they first to pretty much everything space-related, they're the only country still flying manned missions. How are you defining "behind", exactly?
- xvector 8y agoFrom what I understand the Soviet's Buran shuttle was far ahead of our own.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- perl4ever 8y agoAre you being sarcastic? It completed one unmanned flight in 1988, that's all.
- mikeash 8y agoIt was pretty sophisticated. The fact that it was able to make an unmanned flight is an example of something that was superior to the Shuttle. It just didn’t get the resources needed to keep flying, which is a separate issue.
- grzm 8y agoNot to argue that the Buran was "far ahead" of the Space Shuttle, but reasons for not continuing to use the Buran include many others beyond it not being advanced enough. Whether or not it was useful or economical to continue using it are also legitimate (and probably more likely) reasons for it to have been discontinued regardless of its technological achievements. One could imagine the Soviet Union wanting to continue flights even if it weren't more advanced if it were otherwise reasonable to do so. (And that also ignores internal politics.)
- oldgradstudent 8y agoThe sophistication was in realizing the entire design is pointless and abandoning it early.
- gandhium 8y agoIt wasn't ahead, but on the contrary it was behind. They didn't managed to add engines to their copy and US launcher had reusable parts, but "Energiya" was strictly for single-time use.
- fsagx 8y agoDon't forget the Chinese program. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_program#Missions_launched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_program#Missions_laun...