List of Buran missions

Soviet Space Shuttle Buran at an airshow in 1989

The Buran programme was an attempt by the Soviet Union to construct an orbital spaceplane to perform similar functions to the Space Shuttle. Similar to the Space Shuttle program, an aerodynamic prototype and a number of operational spacecraft were planned for Buran.[1]

Test flights

OK-GLI at an airshow in 1997

The aerodynamic testbed OK-GLI was constructed in 1984 to test the in-flight properties of the Buran design. Unlike the American prototype Enterprise, OK-GLI had four AL-31 turbofan engines fitted, meaning it was able to fly under its own power.[2]

All of these missions were crewed by two cosmonauts, were conducted using the OK-GLI testbed, and landed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Flight date Duration Notes Sources
10 November 1985 00d 00h 12m [3][4]
3 January 1986 00d 00h 36m [3]
27 May 1986 00d 00h 23m [3]
11 June 1986 00d 00h 22m [3]
20 June 1986 00d 00h 25m [3]
28 June 1986 00d 00h 23m [3]
10 December 1986 00d 00h 24m First automatic landing [3][4]
23 December 1986 00d 00h 17m [3]
29 December 1986 00d 00h 17m [3]
16 February 1987 00d 00h 28m [3][4]
21 May 1987 00d 00h 20m [3]
25 June 1987 00d 00h 19m [3]
5 October 1987 00d 00h 21m [3]
15 October 1987 00d 00h 19m [3]
16 January 1988 [3]
24 January 1988 [3]
23 February 1988 00d 00h 22m [3]
4 March 1988 00d 00h 32m [3]
12 March 1988 [3]
23 March 1988 [3]
28 March 1988 [3]
2 April 1988 00d 00h 20m [3]
8 April 1988 [3]
15 April 1988 00d 00h 19m [3]

Launches and orbital flights

The first operational orbiter, Buran flew one test mission, designated 1K1, on November 15, 1988 at 6:00:00 Moscow time.[5] The spacecraft was launched unmanned from and landed at Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh S.S.R. and flew two orbits, traveling 83,707 km (52,013 mi) in 3 hours, 25 minutes (0.14 flight days).[6] Buran never flew again; the program was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[7] In 2002, the collapse of the hangar in which it was stored destroyed the Buran orbiter.[8][9]

No. Launch Date Mission Shuttle Crew Duration Landing Site Notes Sources
1 15 November 1988 1K1 Buran 0 3h 25m Baikonur Only flight of Buran
Only unmanned flight of Space Shuttle type vehicle		 [10][11][12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Buran Orbiter". Molniya Research & Industrial Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Spaceshuttle BURAN". TECHNIK MUSEUM SPEYER. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 "Buran Analogue". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Zak, Anthony (16 November 2013). "BTS-002 / OK GLI". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Hendrickx, Bart; Vis, Bert (2007). Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle. Springer. p. 349. ISBN 9780387739847. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  6. ↑ Hendrickx, Bart; Vis, Bert (2007). Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle. Springer. p. 356. ISBN 9780387739847. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ The New Book of Popular Science. 1. Scholastic. 2008. p. 257. ISBN 9780717212262.
  8. ↑ Hendrickx, Bart; Vis, Bert (2007). Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle. Springer. p. 388. ISBN 9780387739847. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ Whitehouse, David (2002-05-13). "Russia's space dreams abandoned". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  10. ↑ Felicity Barringer (November 16, 1988). "Soviet Space Shuttle Orbits and Returns In Unmanned Debut". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
  11. ↑ "Soviet shuttle". Christian Science Monitor. 17 November 1988. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Russia starts ambitious super-heavy space rocket project". Space Daily. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
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