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As it happened, the Russians made a clone of the Space Shuttle, called the Buran[1]. It was the first space shuttle to perform a totally autonomous flight, eve
by tomswartz07 11y ago
As it happened, the Russians made a clone of the Space Shuttle, called the Buran[1].
It was the first space shuttle to perform a totally autonomous flight, even landing on a runway without any human intervention.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29
- PaulHoule 11y agoAnd note that they launched it once and never refurbished it for a second launch.
- tomswartz07 11y agoYou got it: It flew in 1988 and they had some plans for other computerized launches. They had scheduled a second flight for 1993, but that pesky 'fall of the Soviet Union' happened, and they never got around to it.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoThere were some recent pictures of it taken too: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3119861/Russia-s-forgotten-space-agency-Haunting-images-reveal-two-abandoned-Soviet-shuttles-rotting-giant-derelict-hangar.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3119861/Russi... Kinda sad, clone as she is, she deserves a spot in a museum.
- tnicks 11y agoI was in VDNKh in Moscow in 2006 and I saw "what I thought" was the Buran there. Not sure if it was a mockup. All the articles I am finding are saying it wasn't moved to VDNKh until 2014 but I have a picture of myself in front of it eight years prior.
- TylerE 11y agoISTR they actually had a second one that was maybe 80% completed.
- mikeash 11y agoFirst and only! Plans were developed for an autonomous landing of the American Shuttle to be used in the event of a mishap following Columbia, but were never used.
- prawn 11y agoEither they should move one of them to the Smithsonian, or open a sister-museum in Russia.
- kevin_thibedeau 11y agoPutin is opening a military theme park. Buran would be a suitable showpiece.