[FPSPACE] Article that Buran could possibly be revived--to aid the US

[Peter Pesavento]

>From "Russia Today."

 

I am not buying this.

 

Perhaps this is a trial balloon?


But if so, by whom?

 

http://www.russiatoday.com/scitech/news/33330?gclid=CNrOlt-xp5cCFQNKxwodph7c
Sw

 

November 15, 2008, 12:44 


Soviet space shuttle could bail out NASA


The Soviet-era Buran space programme, mothballed 20 years ago, may be
revived. With NASA about to retire its ageing fleet of space shuttles, there
is a pressing need for viable space transport. 

Two decades ago the Soviet space shuttle Buran blasted off on its first and
only orbital flight. Just a few years later, with the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the programme was shelved. 

The Buran was the Soviet Union's answer to NASA's space shuttle programme.
On November 15, 1988, the shuttle was propelled out of the Earth's
atmosphere by the specially designed Energia booster rocket from the
Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.
 
Pavel Sharov from Cosmonauts News Magazine explains the advantages the
Soviets had over their rivals in the U.S.

"The USSR surpassed the Americans in technology - U.S. shuttles can only be
landed by humans, while the Buran lands automatically," Sharov said. 

Magomet Talboev was one of the pilots who test-flew the shuttle without
going into orbit. He said the Soviet authorities had high hopes for the
multi-billion dollar spacecraft. 

"The Energia-Buran programme was started to get the capability to attack the
United States, just like the shuttle was able to attack the USSR. We also
wanted to take the Skylab space station from orbit. Buran was supposed to
put it in its cargo bay and deliver it back to Earth for studies," Tolboev
said.  

But the project was scrapped before these plans could be fulfilled. They
sank aalong with the Soviet regime. The Energia-Buran became one of the
Soviet Union's last super-projects. Billions of dollars were invested and
more than a 1.5 million people worked to design and build it. Nevertheless,
the Buran went into orbit only once before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After nearly a decade in a hangar, the only Buran that went into space was
destroyed when a roof collapsed at Baikonur launch facility in 2002.

Although the Buran project ended prematurely, not all the ideas from it were
left buried. Some of the technologies developed at the time are now used in
everyday life. Fore example, several heat-resistant materials used to make
deep-fryers are a direct result of the research done during Buran's
development. 

Buran technologies may make an unexpected return to the space industry as
well. 

Because NASA will soon retire its ageing space shuttle fleet, some American
and Russian scientists are beginning to think of ways to revive the Buran
programme. 

It may be more economical than developing an entirely new spacecraft from
scratch.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/fpspace/attachments/20081204/99c544ec/attachment.html