
The Cold War was fought on many fronts and one of them was the final frontier. In those heady days of the Soviet and US Space Programs, it was our Nazi scientists verse their Nazi scientists in a race of technological achievement, national pride, milestones, and international bragging rights. Early on, the USSR was able to launch the first satellite, first dog in space, first man in space, first woman in space, the first space walk; but their strain of victories wouldn't last. Once NASA landed men on the Moon, the Space Race was seemingly over and both space programs entered into different phases of space exploration that did not always mirror one another. Where the Soviets would reuse the same basic spacecraft, the Soyuz, to this very day, the US would turn to a massive development project to develop the first reusable space vehicle that would be an "orbital pickup truck" for the planned NASA space station Freedom. During this, the USSR launched their very successful Mir space station, but kept close tabs on the US Space Shuttle program with an air of suspension. In the mid-1980's, the Western world would see how closely the USSR had been eyeing the NASA Orbiter when the Buran Space Shuttle was rolled out. This is the sad story of the Soviet Energiya-Buran Space Shuttle program and this was passion project for me as a massive space nerd.
What Does the Word "Buran" Mean?
The Soviet Space Shuttle is commonly referred to by a single name by the media (both East and West) that would be similar to uniting all of the NASA Space Shuttles under a single name, like “Columbia” rather than “the Orbiter” or “STS”. The name “Buran” actually refers to a specific spaceplane vehicle that flew on the only flight of the Soviet Space Shuttle program on November 15th, 1988; internally known as Orbitaknyy Korabl or “orbital ship” with a number. In the case of the Buran spaceplane it was known as OK-1K1 or just 1K If that spaceplane had flown more than once it would have been OK-1K2 and so on. This designation is similar to the NASA STS OV-101 AKA “Enterprise”. The term first used by the Soviet Space Program was coined in February of 1976 “Mnogorazovaya Kosmicheskaya Sistema (MKS)” or the “Reusable Space System”, which is very similar to NASA’s STS. The internal Ministry of Defense designation for the spaceplane was 11F35 and the inter-orbital space tug being 11F45. Then there is another term used due to the general name of the rocket family being used to propel the Soviet Shuttle into orbit: Energiya, known in the West as Energia. At times, the entire program is known as Energia-Buran or just the machinery involved in the 1988 launch. When you combine the shuttle and the rocket the Russian name for that is: Universalnaya Raketno-Kosmicheskaya Transportnaya Sistema. Confused? Yeah…that happens when discussing the Soviet Space Shuttle program. Even the name Energia was designed by the space program for the general public in 1987 and that bring us to the word “Buran”.
The word is brought into the Russian language from Turkish origin and while it can be generalized as “snowstorm”, it is more specifically to a violent cold wind coming off of the Central Asian Steppes (also home to the Pallas Wild Cat) that lifts snow off of the ground; creating a storm effect. There is also a pass called "Buran Ghati" of the Western Himalayan in the Indian region of Himachal Pradesh. Originally, the name “Buran” was going to be assigned to a cruise missile system that was cancelled in the 1950s. It is likely that since Myasishchev design bureau was involved with the canceled cruise missile and the Soviet Space Shuttle program, the name originated from that source. In 1975, one of the original shuttle proposals, OS-120, had the name “Buran” attached to it to encompass the entire space transport system. This name attached itself to the spaceplane from then forward and was officially released to the world by the TASS news agency when announcing the upcoming first launch.
According to sources, the original name of the OK-1K1 was to be “Baykal” after the beautiful lake in Siberia, but was changed to “Buran”. Given that this specific spaceplane was the only one to fly, the entire Soviet Space Shuttle Program was generalized under this single name of Buran. When the program was canceled by the Russian government in 1993, there was five other Buran class Orbiters in production that also had names…of a sort. Much like the Buran was known as OK-1K, the others would have been known as OK-2K, OK-3K and so on. Some sources have reported that OK-2K would have been christened “Burya” or “storm”. Several sources have disagreed with this name and stated that the second in-production orbiter would have been named “Ptichka” or “birdie”. This claim is rejected by the book Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle by Historians Hendrickx and Vis, stating that it was just a nickname used for all of the shuttles.
There are others that state that “Baykal” would have recycled for OK-3K, and again, this is conjecture. The issue of the official names of these other orbiters would be easily resolved if the MKS program had moved forward when final assembly of the other shuttles and painted names on them. For the purposes of this article, FWS will refer to the Soviet Space Shuttles as just that or the Buran class. When referring to OK-1K spaceplane, it could be referred by that designation or the Buran. In a twist of irony that Yoel reminded me of is that the actual OK-1K Buran orbiter was destroyed by the weight of snow on the roof of the Baikonur museum in May of 2002. Besides the loss of OK-1K, eight workers lost their lives as well. For the purposes of this article, we will be using the term "Energiya-Buran" to refer to the overall Soviet Space Shuttle program. When referring directly to the actual Buran space shuttle, we will attempt to use OK-1K Buran.
The Historical Context of the Soviet Space Shuttle Program
As some of you know, I was a social studies teacher, and when I taught high school history courses, I taught the Space Race. The journey into space, at that time, was a contest between ideologies and completing technologies with national pride being the reward. While it got the United States to the Moon in 1969, that high bar left the USSR and USA at odds about what to do next in the Final Frontier in the next decade. During the 1970’s, the toll of Vietnam and social disharmony caused for rough decade and the US government was not has interested in spending large sums of cash on a Mars mission (which is still the class). Instead NASA recycled pieces of the Apollo program for SkyLab and peace docking mission in space with the Soviets. What was presented to President Nixon was a reusable space plane that could be used to construct the US space station named Freedom. All of this orbital space for the manned program while the deep space discoveries and exploration were made by probes. In 1972, the reusable space shuttle was approved by the Nixon Administration and without knowing it; this also gave birth to the Soviet Space Shuttle program. The 1970’s was also a period of expansion for the USSR Space Program with regards to militarizing orbital space with the Salyut space stations, that included one that was armed with a 23mm cannon.
This was a general theme of the technological advancements of the 1970’s through the 1980’s to apply the new technological understanding to military applications which included orbital space. It was during the 1970’s that the Soviet Union also decided to counter the incoming capability of the NASA Space Transport System with their spaceplanes projects that also coupled with an expanded space station above the Salyut stations. By the close of the 1970’s, the Cold War and manned space travel were at a cross roads, which included the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the upcoming American Presidential election. After the election of Ronald Reagan, there was the birth of SDI and the push for Mother Russia to respond in kind.
The Soviet Space Shuttle…By the Numbers

Length: 36.37 meters
Width: 5.5 meters
Height: 16.35 meters
Wing span 23.92 meters
Maximum weight: 105 tons
Payload weight: 30 tons
Landing weight: 82 - 87 tons
Returnable payload: 15 - 20 tons
Crew 2 - 10 people
Flight duration: 7 - 30 days
Orbit inclination range: 50.7 - 110 degrees
Orbit altitude range: 250 - 1,000 km
Orbital maneuvering system thrust (in vacuum): 8.8 tons
G-loads: 3 - 1.6
Landing speed (with landing weight 82 tons) 312 - 360 km/hour
Maximum lateral maneuver during the reentry: 1,700 km
As some of you know, I was a social studies teacher, and when I taught high school history courses, I taught the Space Race. The journey into space, at that time, was a contest between ideologies and completing technologies with national pride being the reward. While it got the United States to the Moon in 1969, that high bar left the USSR and USA at odds about what to do next in the Final Frontier in the next decade. During the 1970’s, the toll of Vietnam and social disharmony caused for rough decade and the US government was not has interested in spending large sums of cash on a Mars mission (which is still the class). Instead NASA recycled pieces of the Apollo program for SkyLab and peace docking mission in space with the Soviets. What was presented to President Nixon was a reusable space plane that could be used to construct the US space station named Freedom. All of this orbital space for the manned program while the deep space discoveries and exploration were made by probes. In 1972, the reusable space shuttle was approved by the Nixon Administration and without knowing it; this also gave birth to the Soviet Space Shuttle program. The 1970’s was also a period of expansion for the USSR Space Program with regards to militarizing orbital space with the Salyut space stations, that included one that was armed with a 23mm cannon.
This was a general theme of the technological advancements of the 1970’s through the 1980’s to apply the new technological understanding to military applications which included orbital space. It was during the 1970’s that the Soviet Union also decided to counter the incoming capability of the NASA Space Transport System with their spaceplanes projects that also coupled with an expanded space station above the Salyut stations. By the close of the 1970’s, the Cold War and manned space travel were at a cross roads, which included the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the upcoming American Presidential election. After the election of Ronald Reagan, there was the birth of SDI and the push for Mother Russia to respond in kind.
The Soviet Space Shuttle…By the Numbers

Length: 36.37 meters
Width: 5.5 meters
Height: 16.35 meters
Wing span 23.92 meters
Maximum weight: 105 tons
Payload weight: 30 tons
Landing weight: 82 - 87 tons
Returnable payload: 15 - 20 tons
Crew 2 - 10 people
Flight duration: 7 - 30 days
Orbit inclination range: 50.7 - 110 degrees
Orbit altitude range: 250 - 1,000 km
Orbital maneuvering system thrust (in vacuum): 8.8 tons
G-loads: 3 - 1.6
Landing speed (with landing weight 82 tons) 312 - 360 km/hour
Maximum lateral maneuver during the reentry: 1,700 km
The Origin of the Energiya-Buran Program: Why did the USSR Build a Space Shuttle?
The 1970's represented a time of crossroads for both the US and USSR manned space programs after the Moon race, and both it seemed, where headed in different directions. While the United States had landed several manned mission to the Lunar surface and gotten the crew of the Apollo 13 home, the public support and money was just not there to construct a lunar outpost. On the other side of the Berlin Wall, the USSR manned space program was unable to met their goal of landing cosmonauts on the Moon in 1967 and with the destruction of the N-1 rocket and other interior issues; the Soviet Lunar program came to an end. For both Superpowers, it seemed that Terran orbital space would be the contest ground and possibly, a battleground. While it can be assumed that the United States was the first to put forward the idea of a reusable space vehicle that possess the characteristics of a plane, it was actually the first manned space program to construct and put into service such a vehicle. For all three manned space programs, the first stage of manned space flight is in the form of rocket propelled capsules and then move to space transport systems like the NASA Orbiter and the USSR Buran. The concept of shuttles goes back to plans by Nazi Germany when they were laying out their own manned space program and the Russians also were exploring a reusable space vehicle well before the Energiya-Buran program was envisioned.
The 1970's represented a time of crossroads for both the US and USSR manned space programs after the Moon race, and both it seemed, where headed in different directions. While the United States had landed several manned mission to the Lunar surface and gotten the crew of the Apollo 13 home, the public support and money was just not there to construct a lunar outpost. On the other side of the Berlin Wall, the USSR manned space program was unable to met their goal of landing cosmonauts on the Moon in 1967 and with the destruction of the N-1 rocket and other interior issues; the Soviet Lunar program came to an end. For both Superpowers, it seemed that Terran orbital space would be the contest ground and possibly, a battleground. While it can be assumed that the United States was the first to put forward the idea of a reusable space vehicle that possess the characteristics of a plane, it was actually the first manned space program to construct and put into service such a vehicle. For all three manned space programs, the first stage of manned space flight is in the form of rocket propelled capsules and then move to space transport systems like the NASA Orbiter and the USSR Buran. The concept of shuttles goes back to plans by Nazi Germany when they were laying out their own manned space program and the Russians also were exploring a reusable space vehicle well before the Energiya-Buran program was envisioned.
According to the the Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle book by Bart Hendrickx & Bert Vis, it was in 1973 that the Soviet military command was being increasingly concerned about the capabilities of the planned NASA space shuttle. When the Soviets crunched the numbers, it seemed that there was greater starlift capability than what was needed by what the Soviets understood about the goals of NASA and American space policy goals. Also, the American shuttle could starlift 30 tons of cargo and return 15 tons back dirtside and that also deeply troubled the Soviets. What the hell was NASA up to with their shuttle? Some claimed that the American shuttle could be used as an orbital dive bomber that could, in theory, strike Moscow with less warning time than an ICBM, making the Space Shuttles a "first strike" weapons platform. Added to this rising fear was the very real project to retrofit some of the launching pad complex to fit the STS at Vandenberg Air Force base. This further reinforced the thought by the Soviet military that the new reuseable American spaceplane would be used extensively by the US Air Force for secret space military applications. By February of 1976, the Central Committee of the Communist Party approved the development of their own space shuttle to counter the Americans and close the "Shuttle Gap".
To sum up, the sad origin story of the Energiya-Buran program is based on mistrust and paranoia of the two Superpowers during the 1970's and the 1980's. Why is that sad? Because for many of us that grew up watching programs like Star Trek, space was going to be conquered and explored via a common shared effort by the entire planet. And in some ways, the Energiya-Buran program shows how the prospect of orbital space being used as the next battleground between the eagle and the bear can physically manifest itself in a very expensive shuttle program that did not need to exist. We have to remember, that it was not just the wild USSR imagination that created orbital space battles, the Reagan Administration did indeed have a program, SDI, to arm orbital space. It also sad that a very well-designed (and maybe superior?) shuttle and rocket system that the Energiya-Buran indeed was became wasted in the chaos of the end of the Soviet Union. We could have seen Buran class orbiters work along side the STS in orbit constructing the International Space Shuttle.
To sum up, the sad origin story of the Energiya-Buran program is based on mistrust and paranoia of the two Superpowers during the 1970's and the 1980's. Why is that sad? Because for many of us that grew up watching programs like Star Trek, space was going to be conquered and explored via a common shared effort by the entire planet. And in some ways, the Energiya-Buran program shows how the prospect of orbital space being used as the next battleground between the eagle and the bear can physically manifest itself in a very expensive shuttle program that did not need to exist. We have to remember, that it was not just the wild USSR imagination that created orbital space battles, the Reagan Administration did indeed have a program, SDI, to arm orbital space. It also sad that a very well-designed (and maybe superior?) shuttle and rocket system that the Energiya-Buran indeed was became wasted in the chaos of the end of the Soviet Union. We could have seen Buran class orbiters work along side the STS in orbit constructing the International Space Shuttle.
Did the KGB Steal the Information to create the Buran Shuttle?



Many articles pointed to this may be the first example of an online intelligence operation. To hid who they were, the KGB/GRU/VPK used some research centers in Europe as cover. At the time of the first launch of the Columbia in 1981, the Soviets had over 3,000 documents related to the American shuttle program and much taken from the GAO office and walked back to the Russian embassy. An article has described the effort being “shift work” and the printers “were constantly” to funnel the information to their shuttle program. Bottom line? While the USSR acquired mountains of data that was basically available on the American shuttle program, and it did indeed save them time and money, there was enough differences in some of the major systems that caused the Soviets to spend money and time to developed their Buran orbiter. It is interesting story, but it is a little more boring than the headline leads you to believe. In the end assessment, the Soviet did get information on the NASA shuttle program, but we did not make them work hard for it.
The Relationship between the “Spiral”, the BOR-4, BOR-5, and the Buran




The Buran and Orbital Space Warfare




The Surviving Elements of the Soviet Space Shuttle Program

Another piece of the Energiya-Buran program was the "Strizh" (Swift) pressure suit for use with the Soviet orbiters. This suit was designed to allow the crew of the orbiter to survive ejection at MACH 3 and 18 miles up. Designed by NPP Zvezda in 1981 and according to some reports, two dummies were dressed in the Strizh suits and placed in the OK-1KBuran cockpit for the November 15th, 1988 launch. This tested the suits under real conditions. To make sure that the suit could work under the extreme ejection conditions, one of the suits was launched into the atmosphere by a Soyuz rocket. Even after the cancellation of the Energiya-Buran Program in 1993, the Strizh suit was used for some pilots in the Russian air force to this day.
Then that brings us to the Energiya rocket platform. Developed as a super-heavy launch rocket platform for the future of the Soviet rocket program, the Energiya was to be the future...then it wasn't. What made the Energiya unique was the central core with four RD-170 kerosene/LOX burning rockets surrounding the core and the payload like the Buran orbiter or the space laser platform. Developed by NPO Energiya after the Soviet moon program was shut down along with the rocket that was going to carry Cosmonauts to the moon: the N-1. Able to push large payloads ( into tons in LEO!) outer space, it could have been used to launch the Buran class shuttle fleet, pieces of the planned MIR-2 space station, construction of orbital weapons platforms or even a Mars spacecraft. Sadly, the new Energiya rocket platform was only launched twice before the fall of the USSR. Once to launch a SDI laser platform, the Polyus in May of 1987 and the other, to launch our friend, the OK-1K Buran orbiter. While the Energiya rocket was a success, it was the fall of the Soviet Union that caused the end of these rockets. Pieces of the technology are used for the Zenit rockets and a planned new super heavy rocket platform for a possble luna base.
Why do some of the Buran Shuttles have Jet Engines?
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Photo by Yoel |
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Fuel tank. Photo by Yoel |

The First and Only Buran Launch: November 15th, 1988
The first and only launch of the Energiya-Buran was broadcast on Soviet TV with a delay, just a few months after the Soviet government made the existence of the shuttle public. While the original launch date was scheduled for October, the launch had been pushed back several times until the weather was mostly favorable on a cold weather November at 4am GTM. This flight was completely unmanned, unlike the first space flight of the Columbia in 1981 that had a crew of two. The space shuttle achieved orbit and made two complete orbits before going into reentry mode. As the vehicle came near the landing site at Vympel at Baykonur, MiG-25s gave chase and filmed the landing for state TV. With the computer in the pilot’s seat, the OK-1K Buran came back to Mother Russian under strong crosswinds and one cannot be anything but impressed at the automatic flight systems. In total, the mission of theOK-1K Buran OK-1K shuttle was 3 hours 25 minutes long and all operations were preformed by the automatic systems. After the launch, the shuttle made the global news and was a moment of triumph for the Soviet space program. Only seven of the thermal titles came off in total, which was better than the Columbia’s 16. The vehicle was evaluated and readied for the 1989 Paris Air Show and sadly, the OK-1K Buran would never fly again.
Why was the Buran Shuttles Never Used Again after 1988?



What Happened to the Soviet Space Shuttle Fleet After Cancellation?
BTS-002

OK-1K "Buran"

OK-2K "Ptichka"

OK-3K "Baykal"

OK-4K and the OK-5K

OK-MT

OK-ML1

OK-TV1

OK-TVA

OK-KS

The Wooden Wind-Tunnel Tester

The Ideas for the Buran Resurrection
Even after the 1993 cancellation of the Soviet Space Shuttle program by the post-Cold War Russian government there has been talk throughout the years to restart the program and bring the former Soviet space shuttles back to glory. While some of these talks were held during the mid-1990's has plans for the international space station firmed up, ending the MIR-2 and Freedom space station projects. It was believed that the Engergiya-Buran program could be restated easily and allow their shuttles to work along side the STS Orbiters in assembly the new ISS. This idea of a Energiya-Buran resurrection reached the level of being mentioned in press articles in western papers and websites during the Post-Columbia destruction in 2003 and all the way to 2005.
Even after the 1993 cancellation of the Soviet Space Shuttle program by the post-Cold War Russian government there has been talk throughout the years to restart the program and bring the former Soviet space shuttles back to glory. While some of these talks were held during the mid-1990's has plans for the international space station firmed up, ending the MIR-2 and Freedom space station projects. It was believed that the Engergiya-Buran program could be restated easily and allow their shuttles to work along side the STS Orbiters in assembly the new ISS. This idea of a Energiya-Buran resurrection reached the level of being mentioned in press articles in western papers and websites during the Post-Columbia destruction in 2003 and all the way to 2005.

Appearances of the Buran and/or Soviet Space Shuttles
The Soviet Space Shuttle concept and/or the Buran herself have an interesting and varied history of appearances in various media. Here the best list that Yoel and I could compile.
In the 2012 Children's book "In the Sky"!

The Shuttles attached to the Golden Age Terran Colony Ship from Destiny
I am a big fan of the original Destiny game and I've playing for years now along with researching the rich world that game inhabits. In the Russian map, we see a collection of massive ships with shuttles attached to the spine of the massive craft. In the lore of Destiny, the Golden Age for Terrans under the Traveler was a time of technology expansion as well as colonization of the Sol System via those odd-looking starships. At one time, before The Collapse, humanity was readying itself for extra-solar system colonization. These plans were put into action when the Darkness appeared and ushered in the Collapse of the Golden Age and damaging of the Traveler. During this time, every ship that could get off-world attempted to do so and some of these refugees became the Awoken. On Earth, several Exodus missions were planned to get some of humanity out of the solar system: Green, Blue, Red, and Black. These Colony Ships were equipped with AI cores and their missions failed with all hands lost. These massive monuments to the Golden Age can still be seen in Russia and they been part of several campaign settings as we witness in The Taken King in the hunt for the stealth drive. The shuttles attached to the Colony Ship remind me heavily of the Buran and the Shuttles from Moonraker.

The "Little Wing" Mission from Rainbow Six Eagle Watch Expansion Pack
The first expansion pack for the original Rainbow Six PC game was released on January 31st, 1999. These five new missions were take place in the year 2001 and featured new RAINBOW Operators and weapons. Unlike the original game, it was never released on the home console market. The first mission in Eagle Watch was called "Little Wing". Taking place on March 10th, 2001, the mission was rescue the seized launching pad facility in Kazakhstan from a group of terrorists and prevent the destruction of a Russian Space Shuttle(!). The mission is conducted within the launch assembly facility and there is no entry into the Russian space shuttle...pity. According to the Russian writing on the fuel tank, the identity of this Russian space shuttle is no other than our friend, the Buran. What is interesting about this appear of the Buran space shuttle is why the hell is in a 1999 game that takes place in 2001? The Buran and her sisters were not going to be part of the Russian Space Program and the only launch of the Soviet Space Shuttle was in 1988. Very odd. This map was featured in the multiplayer mode as well.
The MA-05HG "Buran" from the Gundam Universe
In the complex universe that is Gundam, the Principality of Zeon had a mobile armor called "the Buran" from around 0079 CE. This is a more heavily armed variant of the MA-05 "Bigro". These are oddball hybrid design of a spacefighter and a mecha. There is very little on the MA-05HG "Buran" Zeon mobile armor, but it was issued in model kit form and does indeed appear to be named for the Soviet space shuttle.
The Various Soviet Space Shuttle Model Kits, CGI, and RC Model Aircraft
The Energiya-Buran program is not as widely known outside of some space history geek circles, but there is a demand for plastic facsimiles of the ill-fated Soviet Space Shuttle. Throughout the years, model companies have produced Buran model kits, display pieces, and even some toys. The Buran has also been honored in the realm of video games with it being mocked up and flown in Kerbal Space Program. Other people have virtually constructed the Soviet Space Shuttle in Minecraft and can be downloaded in a GTA video game as "Antonov AN-225 Mriya Buran Carrier".
The Fictional Soviet Space Shuttles from 1980's Thriller-Cold War Themed Books
The first expansion pack for the original Rainbow Six PC game was released on January 31st, 1999. These five new missions were take place in the year 2001 and featured new RAINBOW Operators and weapons. Unlike the original game, it was never released on the home console market. The first mission in Eagle Watch was called "Little Wing". Taking place on March 10th, 2001, the mission was rescue the seized launching pad facility in Kazakhstan from a group of terrorists and prevent the destruction of a Russian Space Shuttle(!). The mission is conducted within the launch assembly facility and there is no entry into the Russian space shuttle...pity. According to the Russian writing on the fuel tank, the identity of this Russian space shuttle is no other than our friend, the Buran. What is interesting about this appear of the Buran space shuttle is why the hell is in a 1999 game that takes place in 2001? The Buran and her sisters were not going to be part of the Russian Space Program and the only launch of the Soviet Space Shuttle was in 1988. Very odd. This map was featured in the multiplayer mode as well.
The MA-05HG "Buran" from the Gundam Universe
In the complex universe that is Gundam, the Principality of Zeon had a mobile armor called "the Buran" from around 0079 CE. This is a more heavily armed variant of the MA-05 "Bigro". These are oddball hybrid design of a spacefighter and a mecha. There is very little on the MA-05HG "Buran" Zeon mobile armor, but it was issued in model kit form and does indeed appear to be named for the Soviet space shuttle.
The Various Soviet Space Shuttle Model Kits, CGI, and RC Model Aircraft
The Energiya-Buran program is not as widely known outside of some space history geek circles, but there is a demand for plastic facsimiles of the ill-fated Soviet Space Shuttle. Throughout the years, model companies have produced Buran model kits, display pieces, and even some toys. The Buran has also been honored in the realm of video games with it being mocked up and flown in Kerbal Space Program. Other people have virtually constructed the Soviet Space Shuttle in Minecraft and can be downloaded in a GTA video game as "Antonov AN-225 Mriya Buran Carrier".
The Fictional Soviet Space Shuttles from 1980's Thriller-Cold War Themed Books

The Columbia class USS Buran from Star Trek: Enterprise
In the extended, noncanon for the Star Trek universe, there is a upgraded NX class called the Columbia class and within those ships, is the USS Buran. There is some assumption within the Trek community and in some of the post-Enterprise series books that the NX class were upgraded during the Romulan War around 2156 and these upgraded NX class were the template for the Columbia class that launched and served during the 2160's. Admiral Archer pushed for this class of United Earth heavy cruiser to be named after the first of the NX class to be lost in service, the NX-02 Columbia. Similar to the naming system for the NX class, there are number of ships of the Columbia class name in honor of Terran space vehicles. Thus, we have the USS Buran of the Columbia class, the second of the class. This ship comes from the Rise of the Federation books from Pocket Books.
The Cardenas class USS Buran from Star Trek: Discovery
First, let me be clear, as a lifelong Trekker, I do not regard Star Trek: Discovery has canon Trek, much as I regard the J.J. Abrams Trek films as noncanon. Within Disco is the Cardenas class is the USS Buran (NCC-1422). While a powerful a Federation starship, it was destroyed by the "Klingons" during the first month of the Klingon-Federation War. The Buran was featured in the mirror universe episode as well.
The Challenger class USS Buran from Star Trek: TNG

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The Actual USS Buran model prior to damaging effect added |
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Brilliant article- thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Great study .. keep Posting such Stories
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, while I have seen the occasional web search article mentioning a "soviet space plane", my first true introduction of the Buran Shuttle was a YouTube video discussing the various "non-canon" Star Trek ship to bear the name "USS Buran" and how all but one were destroyed in service. That an Andorian captain found it rather amusing or ironic that the ship is named Buran as it also was somewhat symbolic of his own homeworld.
ReplyDeleteThis blog entry is quite possibly the most detailed description of the Energiya-Buran program and its history. Though it is sad that the once chance it had of having a comeback on the world space exploration state was ruined by a case of snow. Not as devastated to me personally as the cessation of all space shuttle flights, but still within the same ballpark.
Awwwwwsome...
ReplyDeleteyet Seventh-Heaven's eternally moe, Curly.
Decide.
GBY