Follow the links below to learn the awesome, hitherto unrevealed stories and technologies of these fabulous flying machines.

	Korolev Rocket Plane	Korolev was already sketching rocketplanes similar to the Me-163 before World War II. This was one concept from his sketchbook.
	I-270	The MiG I-270 rocketplane began as a post-war copy of the German Ju-248 (Me-263) design. The resulting rocketplane had a more refined aerodynamic form than the Me-263 and lower gross weight. The I-270 was abandoned in favor of the turbojet-powered MiG-15 in 1947, which had much greater range.
	RP-318	Korolev adapted his SK-9 glider in 1936 as the first rocked-powered aircraft in the Soviet Union. It was originally to be used to flight test Glushko's ORM-65 engine, but this proved too unreliable for manned flight. Glushko developed an improved ORM-65-2 but in the 1938 he and Korolev were arrested and sent to the Gulag in Siberia to die. The work was carried on by others with delays, and the first powered flight finally came on 28 February 1940. Test pilot V P Fedorov was towed to 2600 m and cast off at 80 km/hr. The rocket then fired and accelerated the aircraft to 140 m/s and 2900 m altitude. The RP-318 flew nine times before the war ended the work.
	BI-1	The Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 was the first high speed rocket plane developed by the Soviet Union. Drawings were completed by spring 1941 but Stalin did not give the go-ahead for production until July 9, 1941. Round-the-clock shifts produced the first aircraft in 35 days. First flight was on 10 September, but the factory had to be evacuated to Sverdlovsk. The first powered flight, following accidents in ground runs of the rocket engine, came on May 15, 1942. Problems with corrosion by the acid fuels slowed testing. On flight 7 the aircraft experienced the previously unencountered tendency of an aircraft to pitch down in high-speed flight, and the rocketplane crashed into the ground, killing the pilot. Plans for a 50 aircraft production batch were abandoned, and rocketplane testing in the USSR only resumed with the testing of German designs after the war.
	Malyutka	The Malyutka rocket point interceptor was designed by Polikarpov beginning in 1943. The small aircraft, powered by a Glushko engine, was designed to reach a speed of 845 km/hr on flights of 8 to 14 minutes duration. Prototype construction was underway when Polikarpov died on 30 July 1944. He had Stalin's support but many other enemies. The result was that his design bureau and projects were immediately cancelled after his death.
	LL	The LL was a transonic aerodynamic testbed authorized by LII in September 1945. Three were built: the LL-1 with a straight wing; LL-2 with a conventional swept wing; and LL-3 with a forward swept wing. The LL was towed to a 6 km release altitude by a Tu-2 aircraft. After being cast off, it would fire its Kartukov solid rocket engine and accelerate to the edge of the sound barrier, with a camera photographing air flow on the tufted wing. The LL-2 was not finished because contemporary fighter programs were already providing data on swept wing configurations. But in 1946 to 1948 the LL-1 flew 30 times and the LL-3 100 times, with test pilots M Ivanov, Amet-Khan Sultan, Anokhin, and Rybko at the controls.
	346	Post-war Soviet version of the German supersonic DFS 8-346 rocket reconnaissance aircraft. Abandoned in 1951 after the prototype crashed.
	Samolyot 5	Bisnovat was assigned the project to develop an all-Soviet equivalent to the 346 supersonic rocketplane being developed by the German Roessing team in OKB-2. Like the 346, the 5 was a swept-wing aircraft, but about 2/3 the size. First glide flight by A K Pakhomov, dropped from a Pe-8, came on 14 July 1948. The first 5-1 aircraft was destroyed on its third flight 5 September 1948. The 5-2 second aircraft, with rocket engine installed, made its first flight on 26 January 1949. After five unpowered flights, the program was cancelled in June 1949. By that time better-funded turbojet-powered fighter prototypes were already achieving the 1200 km/hr top speed of the 5. Biesnovat and Isayev would elaborate the design in unmanned form into the supersonic R-1 air-to-surface missile.
	U400-10	Unmanned rocketplane that proved Isayev rocket engine technology in the late 1940's.
	M-42	Several variants of the Myasishchev Buran trisonic intercontinental cruise missile M-42 cruise stage were studied. Some were related to improving the missile guidance, including an auxiliary communications package for providing en-route navigation and targeting updates, as was planned for the competing Burya. Another laid out a piloted version, with a cockpit installed in the cruise stage. The pilot would eject and be recovered by parachute at the conclusion of the mission. Myasishchev planned several manned flights to explore the psychology of human flight on the edge of space. Buran was being prepared for its first flight when Myasishchev's project was cancelled on November 1957.
	VKA Myasishchev 1957	The VKA (aero-space vehicle) was a 1957 Myasishchev design - a diminutive single-crew star-shaped spaceplane that could be launched by Korolev's R-7 ICBM.
	VKA-23 Design 2	Following the very critical review of the first M-48 spaceplane design by the expert commission, Myasishchev went back to the drawing board. In March to September 1960 this work resulted in definition of two alternative configurations. The first alternative was an unconventional faceted shock-wave riding design (see VKA-23 Design 1). The second Myasishchev VKA-23 design was an elegant-looking, porpoise-fuselaged winged vehicle, similar to Japan's HOPE design of forty years later. In comparison to the faceted first design, this version had a greater fuel load, much greater orbital maneuverability, and dispensed with the landing skis.
	Kosmoplan	Beginning in the late 1950's, Chelomei began studying use of his encapsulated cruise missile technology for spacecraft. A whole family of unmanned spacecraft, dubbed Kosmoplans, would be built using modular elements. These would include highly maneuverable high performance storable liquid propellant engine modules; nuclear reactor modules for high power space applications; ion engine units for inter-orbital transfer and interplanetary flight; and re-entry vehicles permitting return of payloads from space with landing at conventional airfields.
	M-44	Air-launched derivative of the Buran Mach 3 high altitude cruise missile system, proposed for use as an unmanned high speed research vehicle. Manned versions were also considered, but the Soviet leadership refused to allow any further work on the Buran concept.
	M-48	In 1958 the VVS (Soviet Air Force) requested development as quickly as possible of high-speed aerospace vehicles. Some of the detailed goals were met in the 1960's by development of triple-sonic fighters and bombers, such as the MiG-25 and Sukhoi T-4. However a more ambitious objective was investigation of hypersonic vehicles. This was to be conducted in a two phase program. Phase One would take an experimental vehicle up to 6,000 to 7,000 km/hour at altitudes of 80 to 100 km. In this phase the vehicle would remain controllable using aerodynamic surfaces. Phase Two would take the vehicle to Mach 10, and 100 to 150 km altitude. This would require solving problems of control at hypersonic speeds, reaction control of the vehicle outside of the atmosphere, re-entry, and landing.
	PKA	In 1957, in response to the USAF Dynasoar project, Soviet aviation bureaus were tasked with producing draft project designs for a manned spaceplane. Tsybin's design was called the gliding spacecraft (PKA), and would be inserted into orbit by a Vostok launch vehicle.
	Raketoplan	The Raketoplan manned spacecraft design would re-enter the atmosphere in a heat shield container, which would be jettisoned after the spacecraft had passed through the period of maximum heating. Swing wings would then be deployed, and the spacecraft would glide to a horizontal runway landing. The heat shield itself was shaped like an asymmetric cone. This shape could provide lift during re-entry and maneuver with the assistance of rudder petals at the base of the cone. This approach reduced aerodynamic resistance during re-entry and reduced the hot structure of the Raketoplan by ejecting the heat shield after re-entry.
	VKA-23 Design 1	Myasishchev single-pilot winged spacecraft of 1960, sized for launch to orbit by Korolev's Vostok booster.
	MiG 105-11	Atmospheric flight test version of the Spiral OS manned spaceplane. The 105-11 incorporated the airframe and some of the systems of the planned orbital version.
	Spiral OS	The Spiral was an ambitious air-launched manned space system designed in the 1960's. It consisted of three main components: the GSR reusable hypersonic air-breathing launch aircraft; the RB expendable two stage rocket; and the OS orbital spaceplane. It was abandoned in the 1970's in favor of the Buran, but development of the OS as a spaceplane to be carried aloft by less-ambitious subsonic launch aircraft continued, culminating in the MAKS design of the 1980's.
	Buran	Soviet copy of the US Space Shuttle. Unlike the Shuttle, the main engines were not mounted on Buran and were not reused. Representing a huge leap in Soviet space technology and project management - it involved the work of 1206 subcontractors and 100 government ministries. Buran flew only once in 1988. The cost of Buran - 14.5 billion rubles, a significant part of the effort to maintain strategic and technical parity with the United States - contributed to the collapse of the Soviet system and the demise of the spacecraft.
	Albatros Raketoplan	Unique Russian space shuttle design of 1974. Hydrofoil-launched, winged recoverable first and second stages.
	MTKVA	Manned lifting body spaceplane, designed by Soviet engineers as a recoverable spacecraft in the early 1970's. Instead they were ordered to copy the US Space Shuttle as the Buran orbiter, but many of the same design solutions emerged in the Kliper spacecraft 30 years later.
	Uragan Space Interceptor	Russian sources continue to maintain that the Uragan manned spaceplane project never existed. However Western intelligence was very convinced in the climactic phase of the Cold War. The tale told at that time was that completion of test of the 4,220 kg MiG 105-11 manned subsonic test bed did not mark the end of the Spiral spaceplane project but rather a rebirth. It was reported that development of a larger manned 'space interceptor' was authorized in September 1978. This spaceplane, supposedly called 'Uragan', was to be launched atop the new Zenit launch vehicle.
	System 49	System 49 was the design that followed Spiral and preceded MAKS in the Soviet quest for a flexible air-launched manned space launcher. The orbiter would have a mass of 13 metric tons, and could deliver a payload of 4 metric tons to orbit in a 27 cubic meter payload compartment (dimensions 6.0 m long x 2.8 m x 1.6 m).
	System 49-M	The 49M was an application of the system 49 air-launched design concept, but with a larger carrier aircraft. The orbiter mass was 28 metric tons in orbit, including a 9 metric ton payload in a 8.0 m x 3.3 m diameter payload bay.
	Bizan	Bizan was the 1982 Soviet air-launched spaceplane design iteration between the '49' and 'MAKS' concepts. Like the '49', it was air-launched from atop an An-124 transport. Unlike the '49', it was a single-stage-to-orbit tripropellant concept.
	BOR-4	BOR-4 were subscale test versions of the Spiral manned spaceplanes. After cancellation of Spiral, they were flown to test heat shield materials developed for Buran. After a circuit of the earth, the spacecraft would deorbit, perform a gliding re-entry, followed by parachute deployment, splashdown in the ocean, and recovery by Soviet naval forces.
	BOR-5	The aerodynamic characteristics of Buran at hypersonic speeds were validated by the BOR-5 1:8 sub-scale model of Buran. The BOR-5 was boosted on sub-orbital trajectories to altitudes of 100 km and velocities of from 4,000 to 7,300 m/s. These proved the handling characteristics, aerodynamic moment, and control effectiveness from Mach 1.5 to Mach 17.5, at Reynolds numbers of from 1.05 to 2.1 and angles of attack from 15 to 40 degrees. They also allowed study of flow separation at the fuselage surface and thermodynamic characteristics of the design. Final results indicated a lift-to-drag ratio of 1.3 at hypersonic speed, 5.0 at Mach 2, and 5.6 at subsonic speed. Typical trajectory: ascent to 120 km; pitch down to drive model in atmosphere at 45 degree at Mach 18.5. None were reflown but at least 4 were recovered.
	LKS	The LKS was a Chelomei design for a reusable manned winged spacecraft, similar to the later European Hermes spaceplane. Although it reached the mock-up stage, in 1983 further development of the LKS was stopped.
	Buran Analogue	This Buran OK-GLI 'Analogue' was a version of the Buran spaceplane equipped with jet engines to allow it to be flown in handling and landing system tests at subsonic speed in the earth's atmosphere. It had the same aerodynamic, centre of gravity, and inertial characteristics as the orbiter.
	OK-M	1980's design for a spaceplane, smaller than Buran, to replace Soyuz and Progress spacecraft for space station crew rotation/replenishment tasks. The OK-M was designed to be launched by the Zenit launch vehicle, using the double delta planform of the Buran.
	OK-M1	The OK-M1 manned spaceplane was designed by NPO Molniya as a follow-on to the OK-M of NPO Energia. The OK-M1 was an integrated part of a unique launch vehicle, the MMKS reusable multi-module space system. This consisted of three components arranged in parallel: an RVK unmanned booster stage derived from the Buran spaceplane; a PTO expendable external propellant tank; and the OK-M1. Six dual-thrust tri-propellant engines operated at lift-off: four mounted in the RVK and two in the OK-M1. These burned liquid oxygen and Sintin (synthetic kerosene) at lift-off, transitioning to liquid oxygen and hydrogen at higher altitudes.
	OK-M2	The OK-M2 was a manned spaceplane, a straight delta wing joined to a broad fuselage with an upturned nose. The OK-M2 was designed by NPO Molniya as a follow-on to the OK-M of NPO Energia with less development cost and risk than Energia's proposed OK-M1 / MMKS shuttle system.
	Tu-2000	In reaction to US X-30 project, government decrees of 27 January and 19 July 1986 ordered development of a Soviet equivalent. The Ministry of Defense issued technical specifications on 1 September for an MVKS, a single-stage reusable aerospaceplane system. The MKVS was to provide effective and economic delivery to near-earth orbit; develop the technology for effective transatmospheric flight; provide super high-speed intercontinental transport, and fulfill military objectives in and from space.
	VKS	The Energia VKS was designed as a hypersonic rocketplane with multi-regime engines, in response to the Soviet Ministry of Defenses' MVKS single-stage reusable aerospaceplane system requirement.
	Yakovlev MVKS	In reaction to US X-30 project, government decrees of 27 January and 19 July 1986 ordered development of a Soviet equivalent. The Ministry of Defense issued technical specifications on 1 September for an MVKS, a single-stage reusable aerospaceplane system. It is known that the Tupolev, Yakovlev, and Energia design bureaus submitted designs. No details of the Yakovlev design have become available to date.
	MAKS Orbiter	The MAKS spaceplane was the ultimate development of the OK-M studies NPO Molniya conducted with NPO Energia. The draft project for MAKS was completed in 1988 and consisted of 220 volumes, generated by NPO Molniya and 70 sub-contractors and government institutes. Development of MAKS was authorized but cancelled after Perestroika. At the time of the cancellation, mock-ups of both the MAKS orbiter and the external tank had been finished. A 9,000 kgf experimental engine with 19 injectors was tested. There were 50 test burns proving the separate modes and a smooth switch between them. Since it was expected that MAKS could reduce the cost of transport to earth orbit by a factor of ten, it was hoped in the 1990's that development funding could be found. However this has not happened to date. MAKS was to have flown by 1998.
	LII Spaceplane	LII (the Gromov Experimental Flight Institute at Zhukovskiy) designed several alternate spaceplane concepts for air-launch from the An-225 transport. These were similar to the various MAKS concepts.
	Cosmopolis 21	On 15 March 2002 Space Adventures unveiled the mock-up of their C-21 (Cosmopolis 21) spaceplane at Zhukovskiy Air Base, Moscow. They announced it would be ready to take paying passengers (at $98,000 per ticket) on suborbital flights to 100 km altitude in 2004. The spaceplane, designed by the Myasishchev Design Bureau, would be carried to 27 km altitude by the firm's M-55X Geofizika high altitude aircraft. It would then separate and use its rocket engine to take the pilot and two passengers for a ride to 100 km including three minutes of weightlessness.