In recent years, they have again begun to recall the Soviet response to the Space Shuttle, an American space shuttle. This is due to information that in 2016, Roskosmos created a reusable withdrawal unit. Veterans involved in the development of the Buran spacecraft were recruited into a new research team.
American prototype
If the Americans did not frighten the Soviet leadership with hypothetical military capabilities, such as the Moscow orbital bombardment, then it is likely that the project would not have happened. The Space Shuttle program for the launch of the reusable transport spacecraft launched in 1963. By the time the program was closed in 2011, five ships had made 135 flights.
In addition, it was assumed that they were intended to abduct Soviet satellites and inhabited orbital stations. Such conclusions were made on the basis of the study of open data on carrying capacity, the presence of a manipulator and the dimensions of the cargo compartment, approximately corresponding to the dimensions of Soviet stations. Therefore, the Soviet Union urgently began to develop a plan to create a reusable ship "Buran".
However, as it turned out later, although the Shuttles were used for military purposes, the Americans, even at the design stage, refused to use them as a bomber and to steal Soviet space property. Moreover, the manned stations were armed with an automatic gun, and later with two space-to-space missiles.
Project start
In 1973, the country's military-industrial complex, with the involvement of leading research institutes and leading ministries, prepared proposals for solving the problems of creating a reusable space system. By 1975, Soviet intelligence was able to get more detailed information about American shuttles. The following year, the military, taking into account the proposals of the military-industrial complex of the country and the obtained data, issued a technical task for the development of the domestic reusable transport complex Energia-Buran.
To develop a glider of an orbiting space shuttle, a special enterprise NPO Molniya was created. The production of Soviet rocket planes was carried out at the Tushino Engineering Plant. Finished ships on water (on a barge under an awning) in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, were delivered to Zhukovsky near Moscow, where the Buran spacecraft was located for some time, while it was being prepared for further transportation by air. A special transport aircraft BM-T delivered a shuttle to Baikonur at the Yubileiny airdrome.
First estimates
The country's military leadership actually insisted on copying the technical solutions used in the American shuttle, since at that time a large amount of technical information had been collected by intelligence. The advanced copy, the orbital plane, was supposed to weigh 120 tons, which is 10 tons more than the Shuttle weighs. It was supposed, unlike the American, to equip the Buran spacecraft with an ejection cockpit for two astronauts and turbojet engines for launching and landing at the airfield.
However, there were difficulties in the layout. In the American shuttle for acceleration, two solid fuel accelerators were used, which were responsible for 83% of the power needed at the start. Soviet liquid-propellant rocket engines running on a hydrogen-oxygen mixture turned out to be more overall, heavy and less powerful. And to obtain the required thrust, it was necessary to install four engines that simply would not fit on an orbital plane. The country had solid-propellant engines that were used in sea and ground-based ballistic missiles, but they were much inferior in power to the American ones. Therefore, Soviet developers had to focus on the use of liquid engines as a power plant.
How did you plan to use the shuttle
The Soviet reusable ship was also supposed to be of double use. But since the defense department acted as the customer, wide military use was planned. As the main element of the space system, opposing possible American aggression and for delivering strikes, where the Buran spacecraft could attack targets from orbit. On the other hand, in peacetime, the shuttle was to be used for the delivery and return of goods from orbit and for scientific research.
In the 80s, in parallel with the development of the shuttle, various types of weapons and combat use were created. The main task of the Buran orbiter could be the delivery to near space of combat orbital vehicles, which were supposed to destroy ballistic missiles and spacecraft of the enemy with laser or rocket weapons. In addition, to defeat ground targets, the ship was planned to be armed with warheads with thermonuclear weapons with a capacity of 5 MT. In total, Buran could deliver up to fifteen such blocks into orbit. There were exotic proposals, for example, to place four turret mounts inside the cargo compartment, each of which could carry five striking elements that could be attacked from space. All weapons were developed. True, by the time the Buran ship was launched, it was not yet ready.
Both critics and proponents of the program note that there was no precise understanding of why the space shuttle was being built. The combat use was not thought out, and the peace was practically not envisaged. At the same time, it was often set as an example that the Shuttle was actively used for the construction of the ISS and scientific programs - the Hubble
Ship description
The Buran spacecraft (pictured above) is very similar to the American transport shuttle. The glider is designed according to the "tailless" scheme, has triangular wings with double sweep, steering wheel and elevons, which are necessary when returning to the dense atmosphere. Therefore, the ship could make a controlled descent with a lateral maneuver of about 2000 km. The length of the vehicle was 36.4 m. The wingspan reached 24 m, the height with the chassis was 16 m, the starting weight was 105 tons, of which 14 tons were fuel. Landing mass of the Soviet shuttle was 82 tons.
In the head compartment there is a sealed all-welded crew cabin and most of the control equipment. In total, 10 people could fly on the Buran, including 4 members of the main crew and 6 astronauts-researchers. The cargo compartment is large enough, with a length of about 18 m, allowing you to take on-board bulk cargo such as blocks of orbital stations and space satellites. There was a powerful manipulator for loading and unloading in space. The ship "Buran" could carry goods weighing up to 30 tons.
Thermal protection of the surface became a difficult problem, which when returned to the atmosphere heated up to almost 1600 degrees, while the metal structure itself should not be heated above 150 degrees. To create a heat-protective coating, 38 thousand ceramic tiles made of quartz, organic and hydrocarbon fiber were used. The coating weighed about 9 tons.
Two stages are used to launch the ship into working orbit. At the first stage of the flight, four RD-170 liquid-propellant rocket engines were fired from the Buran. These were the most powerful of this type of engine, with a thrust of about 806.2 tons and a running time of about 150 s.
Marching engines of the second stage consisted of four RD-0120 liquid propellant engines operating on hydrogen fuel, which were installed on a central fuel tank. After the fuel was used, this time was approximately 500 s, the shuttle was undocked and continued to fly.
First flight
The ship "Buran" received its name on the eve of the first launch, which took place on November 15, 1988. The space shuttle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome , the Energia launch vehicle launched it into near-Earth orbit. Twice flew around the planet and after 205 minutes landed at the Yubileiny airdrome, which was specially built for the landing of reusable ships. The flight took place in fully automatic mode, under the control of the on-board computer and software.
When landing, the Buran spacecraft at an altitude of about 11 km, having received weather data, made a 180-degree turn and entered the landing from the other side, that is, do not stand with which it was previously planned. As it turned out, due to the strong wind, the automation led the ship to land along the optimal trajectory. At the time of the reversal, communication with the ship disappeared, panic began in the control center, some leaders demanded to launch an emergency system for undermining the spacecraft. Trotyl charges were mounted on it, so that in case of an emergency and loss of control, it would not be allowed to enter the territory of another state. However, everything worked out, the shuttle sat down safely.
For the first time in history, a reusable ship was able to land on its own, successfully maneuvering. The landing control system did not provide for pilot participation in the process. However, already at the beginning of manned flights, testers and astronauts demanded that manual mode be provided.
Photos of the Buran spacecraft are presented in the article.
Unenviable fate
In total, during the implementation of the Energy-Buran program, it was planned to build five orbital spacecraft. In addition to the first shuttle, which made a test flight, the second copy, called the "Storm", was almost ready, almost half the original Baikal was assembled, and two more products were designed. True, for all of them they remained “Burana”.
In 2002, the roof of the building of the assembly and test building (112 A site) of the Baikonur cosmodrome collapsed, where the Buran ship and the Energia rocket launcher were located. As a result, both products were completely destroyed and later sawn into pieces and sold for scrap. Thus ended the life of the only Soviet shuttle who made an automatic space flight.
What happened to the other shuttles
The second ship at the time of stopping the work was 95% ready. The Storm was supposed to make its second autonomous flight in 1992 and dock with the Mir orbital manned station. In 2007, the mass-dimensional model, which before that had stood in the open air, was installed in the exposition of the museum of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The ship itself is in the assembly building, which is closed for free access.
Nevertheless, in 2015 and 2017, groups of bloggers managed to penetrate the hangars, where the Buran spacecraft is still located. The videos were then shared. As it turned out, the hangars, although formally located on the territory of the cosmodrome, are actually abandoned and practically unguarded.
Two other nameless products were disassembled and destroyed in the shops of the Tushino Engineering Plant. The third copy was already collected by 10-20% on the stocks of the enterprise.
Famous layouts
In total, nine mock-ups were designed for dynamic, electrical, airfield and other tests. The most famous of them is the Buran ship at VDNH, which is part of an interactive museum complex dedicated to this reusable rocket plane.
Another well-known mock-up was made in the form of a Buran analogue aircraft and worked on four solid-fuel engines, which made it possible to take off from a conventional airfield. The device was used for flight tests in the atmosphere. It was shown on the show of the International Aviation and Space Salon. Then he was leased first to an Australian company, then to a Singaporean one. In April 2008, German Layr bought the model for 10 million euros for his technical museum in Speyer, Germany, where the Buran spacecraft is still located as one of the most interesting exhibits.
Summary
In the implementation of the program for the development of the reusable space transport system Energia-Buran, 1,200 industrial enterprises participated. The total cost for 18 years of the project amounted to 16.5 billion Soviet rubles, which is approximately 24 billion dollars.
A unique scheme was developed using the superheavy liquid rocket Energia, which could later be used to launch other types of spacecraft weighing up to 100 tons. The rocket plane could make up to 100 flights, the solid fuel accelerator withstood 20 launches, and the marching engines - 66 flights.
By many technical indicators, the Buran was superior to the American Shuttle. The Soviet ship could be in space for 30 days (which is almost twice as much as the possibility of the American shuttle), carry a payload of 30 tons (Shuttle - 24 tons), 10 cosmonauts (7 astronauts) could fly. Preparatory work for the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome took only 15 days, the Shuttle was prepared at Cape Canaveral for a month.