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The Buran was also capable of landing entirely by itself, something I don't believe the shuttle can do even now.
by burgerbrain 16y ago
The Buran was also capable of landing entirely by itself, something I don't believe the shuttle can do even now.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoI'm not sure what you mean, can you elaborate? Do you mean that Buran can land without computer assistance?
- burgerbrain 16y agoI mean that the Buran could (and did) land without human assistance. It basically did what the air-forces new toy did earlier this year, but back in 1988.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoYou mean the pilots could jettison themselves into space, and the thing would auto-land? Or that they didn't need any support ground-side to set it down?
- burgerbrain 16y agoThe Buran's single launch was completely unmanned, as in, there were no people in it. Supposedly the software for the UI inside the craft wasn't even installed or operational. The craft landed itself, NASA shuttle style, on a runway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29#Flight_into_space http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29#Flight_i...
- georgecmu 16y agoHe means that it didn't need pilots. The one time it was launched into orbit and landed, it was completely automatic.
- rriepe 16y agoThe shuttle always lands by itself. Looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2dCWZ92ew http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2dCWZ92ew If you've seen the shuttle on the back of a 747, that's just for transport, not landing.
- burgerbrain 16y agoI mean "it lands itself", as opposed to "a human pilot participates in the landing". And not only did it land itself, it was apparently pretty damned good at it too. Both crafts land on runways, of course I don't think it somehow lands on the back of a 747...
- marbu 16y agoI remember reading about this issue in chapter dedicated the Challager disaster in 'What Do You Care What Other People Think? '. Even in the begining of the shuttle program, the landing was controlled by computer with exception of two things: astronauts had to load the tape with landing instructions into the computer (there was several tapes for various scenarios) and lower the landing gear before touching the ground.