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Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

397 points by jpatokal 11y ago

ourmandave 11y ago
This reminds me of the cancelled Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. The argument to keep building it was they'd already invested billions and it would cost millions of dollars to stop building it. I guess that cost would have been from contract guarantees to the builders or something. Looks like when the Soviets stop building something they just walk away.
- jpatokal 11y ago
  I'd put it the other way: they stopped building because the Soviet Union walked away. The first Buran test flight was on November 15, 1988. Literally the next day (November 16), the Estonian SSR basically declared sovereignty by saying its laws would precede those of the USSR, and the house of cards started collapsing.
- scrrr 11y ago
  >> Looks like when the Soviets stop building something they just walk away. According to Wikipedia [1] the Buran-program was cancelled when the Soviet Union stopped existing. It was a time of chaos and many parts of the country were not working. Resuming construction on a space shuttle was probably at the very bottom of their priorities in 1990. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
- byerley 11y ago
  The arguments to keep building it were almost as stupid as the arguments to stop building it. I recall hateful accusations of "mismanagement" that boiled down to supplying liquor at a Christmas party. Drunk physicists... the horror. Oh, and the fact that our contribution to the ISS had roughly the same cost estimate meant... for some reason, that it was prudent to choose between to the two.
- Steuard 11y ago
  Oh, man. The argument to keep building it was that we would have had (in some senses) better knowledge of particle physics in the 90s than what we're currently waiting for from the LHC. I'm too young to have been part of the physics community at the time, but talking about the SSC can still elicit winces and melancholy today. I'm sure it was over budget; I suspect that most big government projects are. (I've heard people talking about the SSC say that that was standard: that an expectation of overruns was essentially built into the system on all big projects, from the scientists all the way up to Congress.)
- kweks 11y ago
  It may interest / surprise you to know that the russians were also building / built a super collider near moscow. It was / is huge. 27KM from memory. It blew over budget, because less relevant, and closed. There is a mini collider that is active in one of its 'corners'. Today, it's empty, and a little bit flooded. They keep pumps on to keep the water out, but the place is, essentially, ruined. http://ninjito.com/2008-08-24 http://ninjito.com/2008-08-24
emddudley 11y ago
The page is in Russian, here is the Google Translate link: https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphmirebs.livejournal.com%2F219949.html https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphm...
mrmondo 11y ago
Fascinating. Why wouldn't it have been scrapped for parts or at least the metal?
- Cthulhu_ 11y ago
  Probably because scrapping it would've cost a small fortune and what's left over just wouldn't be worth it.
  - pbhjpbhj 11y ago
    In the UK you only have to leave something on the pavement and scrap metal hunters will come by and take it ... seems like there has to be a net gain to scrapping this much metal - if it were a ship then salvage companies would have had it already. I'm surprised that they didn't post a guard there with clean up duty to at least keep it all from rusting in to the ground. Wonder how much it would be to buy and whether you could get enough visitors to the "secret Russian space base" to make it pay.
    - betandr 11y ago
      I would definitely visit a "secret Russian space base"! Especially if it was inside a mountain! ;)
    - bluedino 11y ago
      In many rust belt cities, any building that sits unprotected will be vandalized and stripped of any valuable metals. This is on a Russian military base so it's safe. Scrap collectors on the street don't charge for their time. It would cost the Russian government more in wages and such to scrap the site than they would ever get back out of it.
      - KJasper 11y ago
        That's why you would let some scrap collectors in and basically say to them: What would you pay me for this scrap if you have to haul it away yourself?
jpatokal 11y ago
Business Insider has a partial translation of most of the captions: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/photos-of-russian-abandoned-space-shuttles-by-ralph-mirebs-2015-6 http://www.businessinsider.com.au/photos-of-russian-abandone...
caf 11y ago
I've seen a Buran up close - a few years ago (I think in the early 2000s?) one of them was toured around as a static display. Quite impressive - they let you walk right through it. I believe it was the sub-orbital testing craft.
- sarnu 11y ago
  There is one in a museum in germany: http://speyer.technik-museum.de/de/spaceshuttle-buran http://speyer.technik-museum.de/de/spaceshuttle-buran It was used for the landing tests and is still in pretty good shape.
Osmium 11y ago
I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Not that it's always the right call, but to be able to avoid the 'sunk cost fallacy'[1] on this scale is something that large governments/companies seem rarely capable of. That said, in this case, maybe they just didn't have a choice and ran out of money... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment
- ricardonunez 11y ago
  I agreed. I have thought the same thing about the Superconducting Super Collider. Imagine the thoughts on the people that had to walk away from these projects.
  - ctdonath 11y ago
    Anecdotes & analysis of the psychology of "just walk away" under such scale & conditions would be fascinating. Prior company I worked for was next to another business that "just walked away": seems everyone at the vaccine supply company literally just up & left one day all at once, leaving everything including lunches behind.
- rbanffy 11y ago
  > I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Oddly enough, this is much easier to do without a democracy. It was not what happened there (it was the Soviet Union's collapse that did it) but the reasoning stands.
  - mikehawkins 11y ago
    Well put - centralized decision-making with a minimum of public interest groups does tend to speed things up. But yeah, it was their utter economic collapse that caused this particular case.
  - rdtsc 11y ago
    Well they did keep their Soyuz and other space programs. I think even the wasteful Socialist bureaucrats realized this is not a project worth pursuing.
cekanoni 11y ago
looks amazing
- scrrr 11y ago
  many more pics here: https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=buran%20launch https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=buran%20launc...
jmnicolas 11y ago
I believe in the next 50 years we will see a lot of this in occidental countries. I don't think the problems will stop with Greece default, it just started with it.
- rwmj 11y ago
  A lot of space shuttles?
  - lsaferite 11y ago
    Snark aside, I'd guess they meant large abandoned governmental projects.
  - swasheck 11y ago
    you get a space program. YOU get a space program. EVERYONE GETS A SPACE PROGRAM!
    - yellowapple 11y ago
      I have a feeling Oprah could actually afford that.
Crito 11y ago
This is actually much better than I expected. I thought all Burans were thought destroyed, with the last being that one that a building fell onto. It seems that one was the one that actually made a test flight, but there are other incomplete or test vehicles surviving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Fleet_status_and_locations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Fleet_status_a...
- outworlder 11y ago
  That's what I thought too. They belong in a museum.
jpatokal 11y ago
On reading up, "finding" isn't quite accurate, as the locations of these two shuttles were perfectly well known. They're OK-1K2 and OK-4M on Wikipedia's list below, located in MZK building 80, area 112a, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_spacecraft_and_test_vehicles_on_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_sp... However, obviously sneaking in to take pictures is not an everyday occurrence, it's still a Russian military base and parts of the site remain in active use for the Russian space program.
- rbanffy 11y ago
  It's perfectly possible the photographer had no idea of what he would find. Not everyone knows where the Soviet shuttles are. It's still a find, if not a discovery. No pun intended.
  - centizen 11y ago
    from the writeup it seems to me like the photographer had researched and knew what to expect. He never claims to have discovered anything.
    - rbanffy 11y ago
      Well. Then the title is incorrect.
      - willvarfar 11y ago
        You can 'find' things by research too. If the photographer set out to find and photo the Buran, and started by googling, then that's still 'finding'?
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  He not only managed to sneak inside the base, he apparently made it into the shuttle itself. If the last photo is a picture of him, he's dressed in military clothing, so maybe he just blended in and no one bothered to check him.
agounaris 11y ago
For the geeks... Buran had prolog code in its brain and could land on its own...in the 80s!!!
- locokoko 11y ago
  "It was the first space shuttle to perform an unmanned flight, including landing in fully automatic mode." "[...] despite a lateral wind speed of 61.2 kilometres per hour (38.0 mph), it landed only 3 metres (9.8 ft) laterally and 10 metres (33 ft) longitudinally from the target mark." That sounds pretty impressive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29
- junto 11y ago
  This is the CIA document that noted that (May 1990): http://web.archive.org/web/20120611225718/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0000498691/DOC_0000498691.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20120611225718/http://www.foia.ci... Notably, it also stated: The telecommunications deficiency is a particularly serious problem for the Soviets. The USSR lacks the type of extensive, serviceable, open-access, civil telecommunications infrastructure has proved to be an essential ingredient in the U.S. software industry's capability to support the needs of software uses an all sectors of the U.S. economy technologies critical to the U.S. Industries lead include wide area networks such as INTERNET, TYMNET and TELENET accessible to most software developers in the United States; equally important are the local area networks used to connect software development teams distributed in different locations within large buildings or among several facilities within a large industrial park. This is a fascinating insight into the projected future, although of the three, it was the INTERNET that hang around and turned the world on its head! TYMNET by the way is noted here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymnet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymnet
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  The STS could land on its own too, but due to political and safety concerns this functionality was disabled by default. In scenarios where a damaged shuttle was in space, the crew would board the ISS and turn on this functionality via a cable that connected the computer to the landing gear. Once that was set, NASA could fly it home remotely. The Buran never carried a person into space and Soviet space management never had to make the decision to enable this while pilots sat in the cockpit. I think they would have been under the same pressure as NASA and allowed them to fly and not use full automation outside of emergencies.
chrisacree 11y ago
How abandoned is the hangar? There are some other people in the photos, and no matter how isolated the area is, surely the nearest town or two has wandered into the giant complex up the road a few times. Still, it's amazing that this is the sort of thing people can just potentially wander into. Really makes you want to go explore the world.
- lsaferite 11y ago
  So, I just went back and played "Where's Waldo." Either I lost or you are mistaken. the only photos with people in them that I find are the 2 old photos from when the program was still active and the last one with the person who I assume is the photog.
- kweks 11y ago
  Pretty damned abandoned. I've driven through Baikonour. For background, it's literally a circle of land, 100km in diameter, in the middle of nowhere in Kazakhstan. There is one road in, and one road out. From this road, the only trace of 'Baikonour' that you see is a small enclave bearing the same name on the side of the road. We actually drove past it - it's that small. Inside this enclave (and it is - it's got huge concrete walls around it) - are the famous sputnik hotel, and various bits and pieces. But it's first and foremost a small town for people who live and support the program. There are armed guards at the entrance - who don't let anyone in that's not a local, or doesn't have permission from ROSMOS. North of this, is the actual launch / test zone. It's desert. From the road, you see nothing. The advantage of this being: if something blows up, you just try again elsewhere. There are many abandoned launch pads / facilities in this zone. The actual 'creeping in' - there are no physical fences keeping you out of the zone. If you've bothered to make the effort to get there, getting into the zone and the hangar itself wouldn't be too difficult at all. And yes - go and explore the world. Kazakhstan is an amazing place. You wanna find desolation, you can find it there. By the way, if you go through Baikonour, don't stop in the next town. The cops enjoy extorting cash :D
metasean 11y ago
cached version: http://web.archive.org/web/20150702121612/http://ralphmirebs.livejournal.com/219949.html http://web.archive.org/web/20150702121612/http://ralphmirebs...
DonHopkins 11y ago
It's just too cool looking not to be computer generated. You know: That complex hyper-realistic look with lots of fancy shaders to show off the latest hardware. Is it certain that this isn't some brilliant Blair-Witch-esque promo hoax for a "Soviet Space Race" computer game/movie where you have to save the Earth from destruction by resurrecting one of the old Soviet space shuttles? I don't actually doubt it's real, but I'd hella love to play that game!
- exar0815 11y ago
  Def. Not. Seen the shuttle myself, one of them sits in a german Museum. Next to a Concorde and a Tu.144.
jackreichert 11y ago
Here's a google translated version https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphmirebs.livejournal.com%2F219949.html https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u...
dharma1 11y ago
Makes you wonder if Russia's contributions to science back in the Soviet days were bigger than today under Putin's rule...
- marincounty 11y ago
  They need to get rid of the extortion, fraud, and payoffs. They need to get rid of Putin! As a kid, my father was harassing a Russian neighbor. He said if your country was so great--why do you your comrades want to buy Levi jeans, and they were getting $100 at the time used. He looked at my father, and said, 'Russian has its problems, but if went there today you couldn't find a homeless person.' My father didn't have anything left to say. (Actually, back then they were ignorantly called bums.)
  - briandear 11y ago
    "Ignorantly" called bums. The definition of "bum" is a vagrant; a perfectly accurate definition for many of the homeless. However, that being aside, "No homeless in the Soviet Union.." Hmm. I guess if you count being shipped to a brutal gulag in Siberia a "home," then yes. There were no homeless in the Soviet Union. If you failed to work in the Soviet Union, that was considered a crime against the state and thus you were sent to a camp. This would happen even if you didn't have a job nor could you get one. This "crime" was also common in East Germany as well. So technically, there was no unemployment in the Soviet Union either. Full employment is actually not desired in an economy for a variety of reasons. Here's an old paper on the subject: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40729034?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://www.jstor.org/stable/40729034?seq=1#page_scan_tab_con... The Soviet Union was hell, the same for East Germany. There was a reason there were weeks of parties in Berlin when the wall came down. There aren't any homeless in North Korea either.. doesn't mean it's even remotely close to a model society.
  - fennecfoxen 11y ago
    I'm not sure how the anecdote here is related to the opinion. They don't seem to support each other in an obvious way. As for the bums/homeless/etc, I'm not sure that being unable to find them is always a strict win: it's easy enough to disappear undesirables to prisons or camps (or just shallow graves).
nnain 11y ago
What awesome machinery! There's something inexplicable beautiful about old decommissioned equipment.
fsloth 11y ago
Great photos. Does anyone have details why soviets thought a carbon copy of the botched shuttle design was a good idea in the first place? Where the economics of the vehicle not so obvious back then?
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  According to Wikipedia, because they were concerned about military applications of the space shuttle and wanted to match the US's capabilities. Large payload capacity for launching orbital anti-missile lasers or diving to drop bombs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Programme_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Programme_deve...
- sanoli 11y ago
  What do you mean botched shuttle design? They probably started copying its design from very early on.
  - fsloth 11y ago
    One can hold the view that the design was affected by concerns that had little to do with the missions the vehicle actually performed and consequently locked human space exploration to low earth orbit for 30 years. http://m.space.com/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises-209-billion.html http://m.space.com/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises... Shuttle was locked to low earth orbit due to design reacting to concerns that were never realized. It was anything but cheap. It was ill suited as a vehicle of human space exploration. It did lots of valuable things but it can be argued I understand that those things could have been achieved cheaper and better.
- vilhelm_s 11y ago
  According to the book "Energiya-Buran, the Soviet Space Shuttle" by Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis, they correctly noted that the stated reasons for the US space shuttle did not make any sense, so they assumed there must be some secret rational reason for building it: > As TsNIIMash [Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building] director Yuriy Mozzhorin later said: "[The Space Shuttle] was introduced as a national program, aimed at 60 launches per year ... All this was very unusual: the mass they had been putting into orbit with their expendable rockets hadn't even reached 150 tons per year, and now they were planning to launch 1,770 tons per year. Nothing was being returned from space, and now they were planning to bring down 820 tons per year. This was not simple a program to develop some space system ... to lower transportation costs (they promised they would lower those costs tenfold, but the studies done at our institute showed that in actual fact there would be no cost savings at all). It clearly had a focused military goal". As for what the secret military goal be, apparently the Soviet speculations was that either it might be part of some nuclear fractional-orbit bombardment system, or it might be part of a plan to launch lots of laser weapons into orbit. In any case, we can't have a space shuttle gap, so: > [Central Committe Secretary for Defense Matters, Dmitri] Ustinov had made the following argument: if our scientists and engineers do not see and specific use of this technology now, we should not forget that the Americans are very pragmatic and very smart. Since they have invested a tremendous amount of money in such a project, they can obviously see some useful scenario which is still unseen from Soviet eyes. The Soviet Union should therefore develop such a technology so that it won't be taken by suprise in the future. Let's build it now, and see what it is good for later! :D
cdnsteve 11y ago
I thought cancelled web projects were hard to deal with mentally, this puts a whole new perspective on no go for launch.
sizzzzlerz 11y ago
Its interesting to see how these shuttles mirror the US ones on the outside due to Soviet spies getting pictures and plans but the interior, especially the cockpit, is all Russian, sparse and uncomfortable. I guess they didn't get intel on that.
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  I think it looks devoid also because there were no planned manual control, iirc.
- outworlder 11y ago
  Or perhaps because the interiors don't matter much, as long as they do what's required by the mission. The exterior, however, has aerodynamics constraints. Being a shuttle, you also have to account for reentry effects. Presumably the US had way better computing technology and simulation capabilities that were very expensive.
  - ethbro 11y ago
    I'm reading through Skunkworks (http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743305/ http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/d...) on a recommendation from HN, and thoroughly enjoying it. I'd heard this before, but the actual genesis of Lockheed's Have Blue/F-117 was this: 1) Petr Ufimtsev in the 1960s develops the equations for calculating the radar energy reflected by a given geometric configuration 2) USAF notices and translates this into English 3) Denys Overholser and Bill Schroeder at Lockheed find, read, and implement it in software (which the Russians didn't have the computational power to do) 4) Lockheed is looking for a new Skunkworks project (this is post-SR 71, and Kelly Johnson was transitioning out of Skunkworks after handing things over to Ben Rich) and decides to bet on stealth ("What?! That'll never work! It's crazy!") 5) {... many, many, MANY person-hours later} 6) F-117 Side note: the reason the F-117 has geometric surfaces is that when it was being designed in the 60s and 70s there wasn't enough available computational power to calculate more complex shapes (e.g. F-22).
sanoli 11y ago
I wonder what would go through in the russian people's minds when they saw that their shuttle was a rip-off of the american's. With all the competition to see who was better, how did they rationalize this?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- avmich 11y ago
  Well, in 1988 when Buran was publicly shown, people already had rather different things in mind to worry about :) - it was third year of Perestroika, and things were changing... Of course, for those interested in the subject differences became quickly known. A launcher rocket which uses only liquid engines - so you can have a safer flight with an ability to actually shut down stages if necessary. A bigger payload and an automated landing - something which wasn't so clearly demonstrated by the American counterpart. Little details like launch during heavy wind, launcher which is able to fly separately, non-toxic fuel onboard Buran...
at-fates-hands 11y ago
This was in the news a few weeks back, in mid June: http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-russian-abandoned-space-shuttles-by-ralph-mirebs-2015-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-russian-abandoned-s... http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-space-shuttle-was-left-rot http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-space-shuttle-was-left-rot http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/buran-soviet-space-shuttles_n_7598308.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/buran-soviet-space-... My only thought is if this is a decommissioned facility, imagine all the steel that could be recycled and reused! With such a shortage of some metals around the world, I see places like this and wonder why nobody does a better job of reusing old steel like this.
vhffm 11y ago
For people wanting to go see a Buran, there's a prototype on display in a museum in (SW) Germany. http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/spaceshuttle-buran http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/spaceshuttle-buran
rbryan71 11y ago
History spirals. This is an objective process, repeated over and over again. You can regret for the lost time and to mourn about the past greatness, but the facts remain above this - Russia is rapidly losing its status as a leading space power. For more than twenty years, the country does not produce anything new in principle, continuing to exploit the legacy of the Soviet Union. Only lead the modernization of the old backlog, but otherwise everything is just words on paper and projects. Sure, notable past will allow to stay afloat even a decade or two in the role of a space cab, but only as long as the Chinese missiles are not overstep its proper boundary changes and hurl prices on the conclusion of cargo into orbit. From Space romance gone, leaving her only dry figures of financial statistics. Why spend billions on the space, if it does not bring profit for the foreseeable future? In times of confrontation of political systems, the race between the two superpowers has a beneficial effect on the scientific and technical progress. The possible use of military and ideological gave rise to dozens of various projects. Yes, most of them did not go beyond the drawings and models, but the ones that leaked through the sieve test and commissions received unlimited support. The future of the Soviet reusable orbiters not been predetermined even before birth. Despite the huge financial loss ratio of such starts, they can hold out for long on the world stage, giving the vector for future horizons. And to finish my article I want to play on the title and epigraph. Rise My God! From ashes rise! Awake, my God! Rise from the ashes!
- ethbro 11y ago
  I assume you are photographer? If yes, would you share how you got inside? What arrangements were needed? I am curious! Also, thank you for these pictures. Despite what happens politically (projects die, or supported to success), it is inspiring to think about how many people worked on this project. All that effort... as it is now. :( It is only fair their work gets viewed and known! PS: I assume English is not your first language. Hopefully my sentences were understandable. Your English is still much better than my (zero) Russian (assuming). :) PPS: Before someone mentions it, yes, I am aware there were charges thrown around of technology copying in the Buran program. Whether or not those have any truth, they obviously weren't handed "shuttle in a box" plans. Imho, it's still nice to appreciate all the work that was put into something that never flew into space.* Edit: I stand corrected. As others mentioned, it launched and performed two orbits without a crew before successfully returning in November of '88. Impressive! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Orbital_flight_of_Orbiter_K1_in_1988 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Orbital_flight...
rdtsc 11y ago
Fun fact: Buran was the first fully automated space shuttle. It did a complete flight cycle without human intervention. I believe our space shuttle could that that too eventually but not at the time. Even funner fact: There is a remnant of software that powered that shuttle still around. In the form of a visual programming language DRAKON (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAKON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAKON)
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  The STS was purposely designed not to do that due to political reasons, pilots didnt want to feel like they were passangers, emergency restrictions, etc. Eventually those restrictions were lifted and was fully autonomous at a certain point, I don't remember which models have the full autonomy suite, but the capabilities varied as these things were built out. Considering the Buran has never put a person into space, its still fair to call it an experimental and a failed project. The STS was doing all these things and more. Its an interesting bit of Soviet trivia, but all the attention it gets on the internet is fairly amusing for whats essentially the poster-boy in mismanaging a spacecraft project and what essentially became a Soviet "make work" jobs program, as the higher-ups knew early on that this thing would never be put into production due to a variety of factors including cost and technical issues. I find it interesting that these things haven't been turned into scrap yet. There's something to be said about how overly prideful and nostalgic Russians are about the USSR. I think Putin put one of the Burans indoors after it was discovered to be sitting out amongst the elements. Most governments would just recycle failed capital projects. Unless they're bringing this thing back, it seems weird to have it sitting around in various corners of their launch complex.
  - wickberg 11y ago
    STS was never fully automated, they would have needed to install a temporary cable that allowed the landing gear to be automatically deployed. It looks like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3xx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3xx has details on this cable, referred to as the Remote Control Orbiter (RCO) in-flight maintenance (IFM) cable.
ehosca 11y ago
this is heartbreaking :(
ErikRogneby 11y ago
These are great! Being an American who wasn't taught anything about the Soviet space program I hadn't ever heard of Baikonur until I read about it in Seveneves.
yellowapple 11y ago
Hey Russia, seeing as your Burans are, like, sitting there literally rotting away... can I have one? I'll take good care of it, promise.
tdy721 11y ago
Okay, there has to be someone capable of taking care of the orbiters around? How much would just a minimum amount of maintenance really cost? I think this a real world manifestation of state secrecy and its a shame. On a similar note, I was very happy to see that parts of both Columbia and Challenger will be on display for the public.

397 points by jpatokal 11y ago

This reminds me of the cancelled Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. The argument to keep building it was they'd already invested billions and it would cost millions of dollars to stop building it. I guess that cost would have been from contract guarantees to the builders or something. Looks like when the Soviets stop building something they just walk away.

jpatokal 11y ago
I'd put it the other way: they stopped building because the Soviet Union walked away. The first Buran test flight was on November 15, 1988. Literally the next day (November 16), the Estonian SSR basically declared sovereignty by saying its laws would precede those of the USSR, and the house of cards started collapsing.
scrrr 11y ago
>> Looks like when the Soviets stop building something they just walk away. According to Wikipedia [1] the Buran-program was cancelled when the Soviet Union stopped existing. It was a time of chaos and many parts of the country were not working. Resuming construction on a space shuttle was probably at the very bottom of their priorities in 1990. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
byerley 11y ago
The arguments to keep building it were almost as stupid as the arguments to stop building it. I recall hateful accusations of "mismanagement" that boiled down to supplying liquor at a Christmas party. Drunk physicists... the horror. Oh, and the fact that our contribution to the ISS had roughly the same cost estimate meant... for some reason, that it was prudent to choose between to the two.
Steuard 11y ago
Oh, man. The argument to keep building it was that we would have had (in some senses) better knowledge of particle physics in the 90s than what we're currently waiting for from the LHC. I'm too young to have been part of the physics community at the time, but talking about the SSC can still elicit winces and melancholy today. I'm sure it was over budget; I suspect that most big government projects are. (I've heard people talking about the SSC say that that was standard: that an expectation of overruns was essentially built into the system on all big projects, from the scientists all the way up to Congress.)
kweks 11y ago
It may interest / surprise you to know that the russians were also building / built a super collider near moscow. It was / is huge. 27KM from memory. It blew over budget, because less relevant, and closed. There is a mini collider that is active in one of its 'corners'. Today, it's empty, and a little bit flooded. They keep pumps on to keep the water out, but the place is, essentially, ruined. http://ninjito.com/2008-08-24 http://ninjito.com/2008-08-24

emddudley 11y ago

The page is in Russian, here is the Google Translate link: https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphmirebs.livejournal.com%2F219949.html https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphm...

mrmondo 11y ago

Fascinating. Why wouldn't it have been scrapped for parts or at least the metal?

Cthulhu_ 11y ago
Probably because scrapping it would've cost a small fortune and what's left over just wouldn't be worth it.
- pbhjpbhj 11y ago
  In the UK you only have to leave something on the pavement and scrap metal hunters will come by and take it ... seems like there has to be a net gain to scrapping this much metal - if it were a ship then salvage companies would have had it already. I'm surprised that they didn't post a guard there with clean up duty to at least keep it all from rusting in to the ground. Wonder how much it would be to buy and whether you could get enough visitors to the "secret Russian space base" to make it pay.
  - betandr 11y ago
    I would definitely visit a "secret Russian space base"! Especially if it was inside a mountain! ;)
  - bluedino 11y ago
    In many rust belt cities, any building that sits unprotected will be vandalized and stripped of any valuable metals. This is on a Russian military base so it's safe. Scrap collectors on the street don't charge for their time. It would cost the Russian government more in wages and such to scrap the site than they would ever get back out of it.
    - KJasper 11y ago
      That's why you would let some scrap collectors in and basically say to them: What would you pay me for this scrap if you have to haul it away yourself?

jpatokal 11y ago

Business Insider has a partial translation of most of the captions: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/photos-of-russian-abandoned-space-shuttles-by-ralph-mirebs-2015-6 http://www.businessinsider.com.au/photos-of-russian-abandone...

caf 11y ago

I've seen a Buran up close - a few years ago (I think in the early 2000s?) one of them was toured around as a static display. Quite impressive - they let you walk right through it. I believe it was the sub-orbital testing craft.

sarnu 11y ago
There is one in a museum in germany: http://speyer.technik-museum.de/de/spaceshuttle-buran http://speyer.technik-museum.de/de/spaceshuttle-buran It was used for the landing tests and is still in pretty good shape.

Osmium 11y ago

I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Not that it's always the right call, but to be able to avoid the 'sunk cost fallacy'[1] on this scale is something that large governments/companies seem rarely capable of. That said, in this case, maybe they just didn't have a choice and ran out of money... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment

ricardonunez 11y ago
I agreed. I have thought the same thing about the Superconducting Super Collider. Imagine the thoughts on the people that had to walk away from these projects.
- ctdonath 11y ago
  Anecdotes & analysis of the psychology of "just walk away" under such scale & conditions would be fascinating. Prior company I worked for was next to another business that "just walked away": seems everyone at the vaccine supply company literally just up & left one day all at once, leaving everything including lunches behind.
rbanffy 11y ago
> I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Oddly enough, this is much easier to do without a democracy. It was not what happened there (it was the Soviet Union's collapse that did it) but the reasoning stands.
- mikehawkins 11y ago
  Well put - centralized decision-making with a minimum of public interest groups does tend to speed things up. But yeah, it was their utter economic collapse that caused this particular case.
- rdtsc 11y ago
  Well they did keep their Soyuz and other space programs. I think even the wasteful Socialist bureaucrats realized this is not a project worth pursuing.

cekanoni 11y ago

looks amazing

scrrr 11y ago
many more pics here: https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=buran%20launch https://encrypted.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=buran%20launc...

jmnicolas 11y ago

I believe in the next 50 years we will see a lot of this in occidental countries. I don't think the problems will stop with Greece default, it just started with it.

rwmj 11y ago
A lot of space shuttles?
- lsaferite 11y ago
  Snark aside, I'd guess they meant large abandoned governmental projects.
- swasheck 11y ago
  you get a space program. YOU get a space program. EVERYONE GETS A SPACE PROGRAM!
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    I have a feeling Oprah could actually afford that.

Crito 11y ago

This is actually much better than I expected. I thought all Burans were thought destroyed, with the last being that one that a building fell onto. It seems that one was the one that actually made a test flight, but there are other incomplete or test vehicles surviving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Fleet_status_and_locations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Fleet_status_a...

outworlder 11y ago
That's what I thought too. They belong in a museum.

jpatokal 11y ago

On reading up, "finding" isn't quite accurate, as the locations of these two shuttles were perfectly well known. They're OK-1K2 and OK-4M on Wikipedia's list below, located in MZK building 80, area 112a, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_spacecraft_and_test_vehicles_on_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_sp... However, obviously sneaking in to take pictures is not an everyday occurrence, it's still a Russian military base and parts of the site remain in active use for the Russian space program.

rbanffy 11y ago
It's perfectly possible the photographer had no idea of what he would find. Not everyone knows where the Soviet shuttles are. It's still a find, if not a discovery. No pun intended.
- centizen 11y ago
  from the writeup it seems to me like the photographer had researched and knew what to expect. He never claims to have discovered anything.
  - rbanffy 11y ago
    Well. Then the title is incorrect.
    - willvarfar 11y ago
      You can 'find' things by research too. If the photographer set out to find and photo the Buran, and started by googling, then that's still 'finding'?
TeMPOraL 11y ago
He not only managed to sneak inside the base, he apparently made it into the shuttle itself. If the last photo is a picture of him, he's dressed in military clothing, so maybe he just blended in and no one bothered to check him.

agounaris 11y ago

For the geeks... Buran had prolog code in its brain and could land on its own...in the 80s!!!

locokoko 11y ago
"It was the first space shuttle to perform an unmanned flight, including landing in fully automatic mode." "[...] despite a lateral wind speed of 61.2 kilometres per hour (38.0 mph), it landed only 3 metres (9.8 ft) laterally and 10 metres (33 ft) longitudinally from the target mark." That sounds pretty impressive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29
junto 11y ago
This is the CIA document that noted that (May 1990): http://web.archive.org/web/20120611225718/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0000498691/DOC_0000498691.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20120611225718/http://www.foia.ci... Notably, it also stated: The telecommunications deficiency is a particularly serious problem for the Soviets. The USSR lacks the type of extensive, serviceable, open-access, civil telecommunications infrastructure has proved to be an essential ingredient in the U.S. software industry's capability to support the needs of software uses an all sectors of the U.S. economy technologies critical to the U.S. Industries lead include wide area networks such as INTERNET, TYMNET and TELENET accessible to most software developers in the United States; equally important are the local area networks used to connect software development teams distributed in different locations within large buildings or among several facilities within a large industrial park. This is a fascinating insight into the projected future, although of the three, it was the INTERNET that hang around and turned the world on its head! TYMNET by the way is noted here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymnet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tymnet
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
The STS could land on its own too, but due to political and safety concerns this functionality was disabled by default. In scenarios where a damaged shuttle was in space, the crew would board the ISS and turn on this functionality via a cable that connected the computer to the landing gear. Once that was set, NASA could fly it home remotely. The Buran never carried a person into space and Soviet space management never had to make the decision to enable this while pilots sat in the cockpit. I think they would have been under the same pressure as NASA and allowed them to fly and not use full automation outside of emergencies.

chrisacree 11y ago

How abandoned is the hangar? There are some other people in the photos, and no matter how isolated the area is, surely the nearest town or two has wandered into the giant complex up the road a few times. Still, it's amazing that this is the sort of thing people can just potentially wander into. Really makes you want to go explore the world.

lsaferite 11y ago
So, I just went back and played "Where's Waldo." Either I lost or you are mistaken. the only photos with people in them that I find are the 2 old photos from when the program was still active and the last one with the person who I assume is the photog.
kweks 11y ago
Pretty damned abandoned. I've driven through Baikonour. For background, it's literally a circle of land, 100km in diameter, in the middle of nowhere in Kazakhstan. There is one road in, and one road out. From this road, the only trace of 'Baikonour' that you see is a small enclave bearing the same name on the side of the road. We actually drove past it - it's that small. Inside this enclave (and it is - it's got huge concrete walls around it) - are the famous sputnik hotel, and various bits and pieces. But it's first and foremost a small town for people who live and support the program. There are armed guards at the entrance - who don't let anyone in that's not a local, or doesn't have permission from ROSMOS. North of this, is the actual launch / test zone. It's desert. From the road, you see nothing. The advantage of this being: if something blows up, you just try again elsewhere. There are many abandoned launch pads / facilities in this zone. The actual 'creeping in' - there are no physical fences keeping you out of the zone. If you've bothered to make the effort to get there, getting into the zone and the hangar itself wouldn't be too difficult at all. And yes - go and explore the world. Kazakhstan is an amazing place. You wanna find desolation, you can find it there. By the way, if you go through Baikonour, don't stop in the next town. The cops enjoy extorting cash :D

metasean 11y ago

cached version: http://web.archive.org/web/20150702121612/http://ralphmirebs.livejournal.com/219949.html http://web.archive.org/web/20150702121612/http://ralphmirebs...

DonHopkins 11y ago

It's just too cool looking not to be computer generated. You know: That complex hyper-realistic look with lots of fancy shaders to show off the latest hardware. Is it certain that this isn't some brilliant Blair-Witch-esque promo hoax for a "Soviet Space Race" computer game/movie where you have to save the Earth from destruction by resurrecting one of the old Soviet space shuttles? I don't actually doubt it's real, but I'd hella love to play that game!

exar0815 11y ago
Def. Not. Seen the shuttle myself, one of them sits in a german Museum. Next to a Concorde and a Tu.144.

jackreichert 11y ago

Here's a google translated version https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fralphmirebs.livejournal.com%2F219949.html https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u...

dharma1 11y ago

Makes you wonder if Russia's contributions to science back in the Soviet days were bigger than today under Putin's rule...

marincounty 11y ago
They need to get rid of the extortion, fraud, and payoffs. They need to get rid of Putin! As a kid, my father was harassing a Russian neighbor. He said if your country was so great--why do you your comrades want to buy Levi jeans, and they were getting $100 at the time used. He looked at my father, and said, 'Russian has its problems, but if went there today you couldn't find a homeless person.' My father didn't have anything left to say. (Actually, back then they were ignorantly called bums.)
- briandear 11y ago
  "Ignorantly" called bums. The definition of "bum" is a vagrant; a perfectly accurate definition for many of the homeless. However, that being aside, "No homeless in the Soviet Union.." Hmm. I guess if you count being shipped to a brutal gulag in Siberia a "home," then yes. There were no homeless in the Soviet Union. If you failed to work in the Soviet Union, that was considered a crime against the state and thus you were sent to a camp. This would happen even if you didn't have a job nor could you get one. This "crime" was also common in East Germany as well. So technically, there was no unemployment in the Soviet Union either. Full employment is actually not desired in an economy for a variety of reasons. Here's an old paper on the subject: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40729034?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://www.jstor.org/stable/40729034?seq=1#page_scan_tab_con... The Soviet Union was hell, the same for East Germany. There was a reason there were weeks of parties in Berlin when the wall came down. There aren't any homeless in North Korea either.. doesn't mean it's even remotely close to a model society.
- fennecfoxen 11y ago
  I'm not sure how the anecdote here is related to the opinion. They don't seem to support each other in an obvious way. As for the bums/homeless/etc, I'm not sure that being unable to find them is always a strict win: it's easy enough to disappear undesirables to prisons or camps (or just shallow graves).

nnain 11y ago

What awesome machinery! There's something inexplicable beautiful about old decommissioned equipment.

fsloth 11y ago

Great photos. Does anyone have details why soviets thought a carbon copy of the botched shuttle design was a good idea in the first place? Where the economics of the vehicle not so obvious back then?

wlesieutre 11y ago
According to Wikipedia, because they were concerned about military applications of the space shuttle and wanted to match the US's capabilities. Large payload capacity for launching orbital anti-missile lasers or diving to drop bombs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Programme_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Programme_deve...
sanoli 11y ago
What do you mean botched shuttle design? They probably started copying its design from very early on.
- fsloth 11y ago
  One can hold the view that the design was affected by concerns that had little to do with the missions the vehicle actually performed and consequently locked human space exploration to low earth orbit for 30 years. http://m.space.com/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises-209-billion.html http://m.space.com/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises... Shuttle was locked to low earth orbit due to design reacting to concerns that were never realized. It was anything but cheap. It was ill suited as a vehicle of human space exploration. It did lots of valuable things but it can be argued I understand that those things could have been achieved cheaper and better.
vilhelm_s 11y ago
According to the book "Energiya-Buran, the Soviet Space Shuttle" by Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis, they correctly noted that the stated reasons for the US space shuttle did not make any sense, so they assumed there must be some secret rational reason for building it: > As TsNIIMash [Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building] director Yuriy Mozzhorin later said: "[The Space Shuttle] was introduced as a national program, aimed at 60 launches per year ... All this was very unusual: the mass they had been putting into orbit with their expendable rockets hadn't even reached 150 tons per year, and now they were planning to launch 1,770 tons per year. Nothing was being returned from space, and now they were planning to bring down 820 tons per year. This was not simple a program to develop some space system ... to lower transportation costs (they promised they would lower those costs tenfold, but the studies done at our institute showed that in actual fact there would be no cost savings at all). It clearly had a focused military goal". As for what the secret military goal be, apparently the Soviet speculations was that either it might be part of some nuclear fractional-orbit bombardment system, or it might be part of a plan to launch lots of laser weapons into orbit. In any case, we can't have a space shuttle gap, so: > [Central Committe Secretary for Defense Matters, Dmitri] Ustinov had made the following argument: if our scientists and engineers do not see and specific use of this technology now, we should not forget that the Americans are very pragmatic and very smart. Since they have invested a tremendous amount of money in such a project, they can obviously see some useful scenario which is still unseen from Soviet eyes. The Soviet Union should therefore develop such a technology so that it won't be taken by suprise in the future. Let's build it now, and see what it is good for later! :D

cdnsteve 11y ago

I thought cancelled web projects were hard to deal with mentally, this puts a whole new perspective on no go for launch.

sizzzzlerz 11y ago

Its interesting to see how these shuttles mirror the US ones on the outside due to Soviet spies getting pictures and plans but the interior, especially the cockpit, is all Russian, sparse and uncomfortable. I guess they didn't get intel on that.

LoSboccacc 11y ago
I think it looks devoid also because there were no planned manual control, iirc.
outworlder 11y ago
Or perhaps because the interiors don't matter much, as long as they do what's required by the mission. The exterior, however, has aerodynamics constraints. Being a shuttle, you also have to account for reentry effects. Presumably the US had way better computing technology and simulation capabilities that were very expensive.
- ethbro 11y ago
  I'm reading through Skunkworks (http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743305/ http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/d...) on a recommendation from HN, and thoroughly enjoying it. I'd heard this before, but the actual genesis of Lockheed's Have Blue/F-117 was this: 1) Petr Ufimtsev in the 1960s develops the equations for calculating the radar energy reflected by a given geometric configuration 2) USAF notices and translates this into English 3) Denys Overholser and Bill Schroeder at Lockheed find, read, and implement it in software (which the Russians didn't have the computational power to do) 4) Lockheed is looking for a new Skunkworks project (this is post-SR 71, and Kelly Johnson was transitioning out of Skunkworks after handing things over to Ben Rich) and decides to bet on stealth ("What?! That'll never work! It's crazy!") 5) {... many, many, MANY person-hours later} 6) F-117 Side note: the reason the F-117 has geometric surfaces is that when it was being designed in the 60s and 70s there wasn't enough available computational power to calculate more complex shapes (e.g. F-22).

sanoli 11y ago

I wonder what would go through in the russian people's minds when they saw that their shuttle was a rip-off of the american's. With all the competition to see who was better, how did they rationalize this?

deleted 11y ago
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avmich 11y ago
Well, in 1988 when Buran was publicly shown, people already had rather different things in mind to worry about :) - it was third year of Perestroika, and things were changing... Of course, for those interested in the subject differences became quickly known. A launcher rocket which uses only liquid engines - so you can have a safer flight with an ability to actually shut down stages if necessary. A bigger payload and an automated landing - something which wasn't so clearly demonstrated by the American counterpart. Little details like launch during heavy wind, launcher which is able to fly separately, non-toxic fuel onboard Buran...

at-fates-hands 11y ago

This was in the news a few weeks back, in mid June: http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-russian-abandoned-space-shuttles-by-ralph-mirebs-2015-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-russian-abandoned-s... http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-space-shuttle-was-left-rot http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-space-shuttle-was-left-rot http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/buran-soviet-space-shuttles_n_7598308.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/buran-soviet-space-... My only thought is if this is a decommissioned facility, imagine all the steel that could be recycled and reused! With such a shortage of some metals around the world, I see places like this and wonder why nobody does a better job of reusing old steel like this.

vhffm 11y ago

For people wanting to go see a Buran, there's a prototype on display in a museum in (SW) Germany. http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/spaceshuttle-buran http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/spaceshuttle-buran

rbryan71 11y ago

History spirals. This is an objective process, repeated over and over again. You can regret for the lost time and to mourn about the past greatness, but the facts remain above this - Russia is rapidly losing its status as a leading space power. For more than twenty years, the country does not produce anything new in principle, continuing to exploit the legacy of the Soviet Union. Only lead the modernization of the old backlog, but otherwise everything is just words on paper and projects. Sure, notable past will allow to stay afloat even a decade or two in the role of a space cab, but only as long as the Chinese missiles are not overstep its proper boundary changes and hurl prices on the conclusion of cargo into orbit. From Space romance gone, leaving her only dry figures of financial statistics. Why spend billions on the space, if it does not bring profit for the foreseeable future? In times of confrontation of political systems, the race between the two superpowers has a beneficial effect on the scientific and technical progress. The possible use of military and ideological gave rise to dozens of various projects. Yes, most of them did not go beyond the drawings and models, but the ones that leaked through the sieve test and commissions received unlimited support. The future of the Soviet reusable orbiters not been predetermined even before birth. Despite the huge financial loss ratio of such starts, they can hold out for long on the world stage, giving the vector for future horizons. And to finish my article I want to play on the title and epigraph. Rise My God! From ashes rise! Awake, my God! Rise from the ashes!

ethbro 11y ago
I assume you are photographer? If yes, would you share how you got inside? What arrangements were needed? I am curious! Also, thank you for these pictures. Despite what happens politically (projects die, or supported to success), it is inspiring to think about how many people worked on this project. All that effort... as it is now. :( It is only fair their work gets viewed and known! PS: I assume English is not your first language. Hopefully my sentences were understandable. Your English is still much better than my (zero) Russian (assuming). :) PPS: Before someone mentions it, yes, I am aware there were charges thrown around of technology copying in the Buran program. Whether or not those have any truth, they obviously weren't handed "shuttle in a box" plans. Imho, it's still nice to appreciate all the work that was put into something that never flew into space.* Edit: I stand corrected. As others mentioned, it launched and performed two orbits without a crew before successfully returning in November of '88. Impressive! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Orbital_flight_of_Orbiter_K1_in_1988 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Orbital_flight...

rdtsc 11y ago

Fun fact: Buran was the first fully automated space shuttle. It did a complete flight cycle without human intervention. I believe our space shuttle could that that too eventually but not at the time. Even funner fact: There is a remnant of software that powered that shuttle still around. In the form of a visual programming language DRAKON (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAKON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAKON)

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
The STS was purposely designed not to do that due to political reasons, pilots didnt want to feel like they were passangers, emergency restrictions, etc. Eventually those restrictions were lifted and was fully autonomous at a certain point, I don't remember which models have the full autonomy suite, but the capabilities varied as these things were built out. Considering the Buran has never put a person into space, its still fair to call it an experimental and a failed project. The STS was doing all these things and more. Its an interesting bit of Soviet trivia, but all the attention it gets on the internet is fairly amusing for whats essentially the poster-boy in mismanaging a spacecraft project and what essentially became a Soviet "make work" jobs program, as the higher-ups knew early on that this thing would never be put into production due to a variety of factors including cost and technical issues. I find it interesting that these things haven't been turned into scrap yet. There's something to be said about how overly prideful and nostalgic Russians are about the USSR. I think Putin put one of the Burans indoors after it was discovered to be sitting out amongst the elements. Most governments would just recycle failed capital projects. Unless they're bringing this thing back, it seems weird to have it sitting around in various corners of their launch complex.
- wickberg 11y ago
  STS was never fully automated, they would have needed to install a temporary cable that allowed the landing gear to be automatically deployed. It looks like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3xx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-3xx has details on this cable, referred to as the Remote Control Orbiter (RCO) in-flight maintenance (IFM) cable.

ehosca 11y ago

this is heartbreaking :(

ErikRogneby 11y ago

These are great! Being an American who wasn't taught anything about the Soviet space program I hadn't ever heard of Baikonur until I read about it in Seveneves.

yellowapple 11y ago

Hey Russia, seeing as your Burans are, like, sitting there literally rotting away... can I have one? I'll take good care of it, promise.

tdy721 11y ago

Okay, there has to be someone capable of taking care of the orbiters around? How much would just a minimum amount of maintenance really cost? I think this a real world manifestation of state secrecy and its a shame. On a similar note, I was very happy to see that parts of both Columbia and Challenger will be on display for the public.