Buran ship. "Buran": past, present and future. System Energia - Buran Exit to the start
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✪ Mysterious death of test pilots | Reusable spacecraft "Buran"
✪ Russia creates Buran 2.0
✪ First and only flight of "Buran"
✪ Did the USSR really create the best shuttle? | Translation
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The production of orbital vehicles has been carried out at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant since 1980; by 1984, the first full-scale copy was ready. From the plant, the ships were delivered by water transport (on a barge under a tent) to the city of Zhukovsky, and from there (from the Ramenskoye airfield) - by air(on a special VM-T transport aircraft) - to the Yubileiny airfield of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
In 1984, at the Leningrad Institute named after. M. M. Gromov crews were formed to test the Buran analogue - BTS-02, which were carried out until 1988. The same crews were planned for the 1st manned flight of the Buran.
- “Western alternate airfield” - Simferopol airport in Crimea with a reconstructed runway measuring 3701x60 m ( 45°02′42″ n. w. 33°58′37″ E. d. HGIOL) ;
- “Eastern alternate airfield” is a Khorol military airfield in the Primorsky Territory with a runway measuring 3700x70 m ( 44°27′04″ n. w. 132°07′28″ E. d. HGIOL).
At these three airfields (and in their areas) Vympel complexes of radio engineering systems for navigation, landing, trajectory control and air traffic control were deployed to ensure the normal landing of the Buran (in automatic and manual mode).
According to some reports, in order to ensure readiness for an emergency landing of the Buran (in manual mode), runways have been built or strengthened at fourteen more airfields, including outside the territory of the USSR (in Cuba, in Libya).
A full-size analogue of the Buran, designated BTS-002(GLI), was manufactured for flight tests in the Earth’s atmosphere. In its tail section there were four turbojet engines, which allowed it to take off from a conventional airfield. In 1988, it was used in (the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow region) to test the control system and automatic landing system, as well as to train test pilots before space flights.
On November 10, 1985, at the Gromov Flight Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, the first atmospheric flight was made by a full-size analogue of the Buran (machine 002 GLI - horizontal flight tests). The car was piloted by LII test pilots Igor Petrovich Volk and R. A. Stankevichyus.
Previously, by order of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry dated June 23, 1981 No. 263, the Industry Test Cosmonaut Squad of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry was created, consisting of: I. P. Volk, A. S. Levchenko, R. A. Stankevichyus and A. V. Shchukin (first set) .
Flight
The Buran space flight took place on November 15, 1988. The Energia launch vehicle launched from pad 110 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched the ship into low-Earth orbit. The flight lasted 205 minutes, during which time the ship made two orbits around the Earth, after which it landed at the Yubileiny airfield of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The flight took place automatically using an on-board computer and an on-board software. Over the Pacific Ocean, "Buran" was accompanied by the ship of the measuring complex of the USSR Navy "Marshal Nedelin" and the research vessel of the USSR Academy of Sciences "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky".
At the landing stage, there was an emergency incident, which, however, only emphasized the success of the creators of the program. At an altitude of about 11 km, Buran, having received information from the ground station about the weather conditions at the landing site, unexpectedly made a sharp maneuver. The ship described a smooth loop with a 180º turn (initially entering the landing strip from the north-west direction, the ship landed, entering from its southern end). As it turned out later, due to the stormy wind on the ground, the ship’s automation decided to further reduce speed and enter the landing trajectory that was most advantageous under the new conditions.
At the moment of the turn, the ship disappeared from the field of view of ground-based surveillance equipment, and communication was interrupted for some time. Panic began at the control center; the responsible persons immediately proposed to use the emergency system for detonating the ship (it was equipped with TNT charges, designed to prevent the crash of a top-secret ship on the territory of another state in case of loss of course). However, Deputy Chief Designer of NPO Molniya for flight testing Stepan Mikoyan, who was responsible for controlling the ship during the descent and landing phase, decided to wait, and the situation was resolved successfully.
Initially, the automatic landing system did not provide for a transition to manual control mode. However, test pilots and cosmonauts demanded that the designers include a manual mode in the landing control system:
...the control system of the Buran ship was supposed to automatically perform all actions until the ship stopped after landing. The pilot's participation in control was not provided for. (Later, at our insistence, a backup manual control mode was provided for during the atmospheric flight during the return of the ship.)
A significant part technical information about the progress of the flight is inaccessible to a modern researcher, since it was recorded on magnetic tapes for BESM-6 computers, no working copies of which have survived. It is possible to partially recreate the course of the historical flight using the preserved paper rolls of printouts on the ATsPU-128 with samples from on-board and ground telemetry data.
Subsequent events
In 2002, the only Buran that flew into space (product 1.01) was destroyed when the roof of the installation and testing building at Baikonur, in which it was stored along with finished copies of the Energia launch vehicle, collapsed.
After the disaster of the space shuttle Columbia, and especially with the closure of the Space Shuttle program, the Western media repeatedly expressed the opinion that the American space agency NASA is interested in reviving the Energia-Buran complex and intends to make a corresponding order to Russia in the near future. time. Meanwhile, according to the Interfax agency, director G. G. Raikunov said that Russia could return after 2018 to this program and the creation of launch vehicles capable of launching cargo up to 24 tons into orbit; its testing will begin in 2015. In the future, it is planned to create rockets that will deliver cargo weighing more than 100 tons into orbit. For the distant future, there are plans to develop a new manned spacecraft and reusable launch vehicles.
Specifications
One of the many specialists in thermal protective coating was musician Sergei Letov.
Comparative analysis of the Buran and Space Shuttle systems
Although outwardly similar to the American Shuttle, the Buran orbital ship had a fundamental difference - it could land fully automatically using the on-board computer and the Vympel ground-based complex of radio engineering systems for navigation, landing, trajectory control and air traffic control.
The Shuttle lands with its engines inoperative. It does not have the ability to land several times, so there are several landing sites on the territory of the USA.
"Buran": the name of the "Energia - Buran" complex. The complex consisted of a first stage, which consisted of four side blocks with RD-170 oxygen-kerosene engines (in the future, their return and reusable use was envisaged), a second stage with four RD-0120 oxygen-hydrogen engines, which was the basis of the complex, and a returnable spacecraft docked to it. apparatus "Buran". At launch, both stages were fired. After the release of the first stage (4 side blocks), the second continued to operate until it reached a speed slightly less than orbital. The final launch was carried out by the engines of the Buran itself, this eliminated the contamination of orbits with debris from spent rocket stages.
This scheme is universal, since it made it possible to launch into orbit not only the Buran spacecraft, but also other payloads weighing up to 100 tons. "Buran" entered the atmosphere and began to reduce speed (the entry angle was approximately 30°, the entry angle gradually decreased). Initially, for controlled flight in the atmosphere, the Buran was supposed to be equipped with two turbojet engines installed in the aerodynamic shadow zone at the base of the fin. However, by the time of the first (and only) start this system was not ready for flight, so after entering the atmosphere the ship was controlled only by the control surfaces without using engine thrust. Before landing, the Buran carried out a speed-damping corrective maneuver (flying in a descending figure eight), after which it landed. In this single flight, the Buran had only one attempt to land. During landing, the speed was 300 km/h, during entry into the atmosphere it reached 25 speeds of sound (almost 30 thousand km/h).
Unlike the Shuttle, the Buran was equipped with an emergency crew rescue system. At low altitudes, a catapult operated for the first two pilots; at a sufficient height, in case emergency situation, "Buran" could be separated from the launch vehicle and make an emergency landing.
The chief designers of Buran never denied that Buran was partially copied from the American Space Shuttle. In particular, General Designer Lozino-Lozinsky spoke on the question of copying as follows:
General designer Glushko considered that by that time there was little material that would confirm and guarantee success, at a time when the Shuttle flights had proven that a Shuttle-like configuration worked successfully, and here there was less risk when choosing a configuration. Therefore, despite the larger useful volume of the “Spiral” configuration, it was decided to carry out the “Buran” in a configuration similar to that of the Shuttle.
...Copying, as indicated in the previous answer, was, of course, completely conscious and justified in the process of those design developments that were carried out, and during which, as already indicated above, many changes were made to both the configuration and the design. The main political requirement was to ensure that the payload bay dimensions were the same as the Shuttle's payload bay.
...the absence of main engines on the Buran noticeably changed the alignment, the position of the wings, the influx configuration, and a number of other differences.
Causes and consequences of system differences
The initial version of the OS-120, which appeared in 1975 in Volume 1B “Technical Proposals” of the “Integrated Rocket and Space Program”, was an almost complete copy of the American space shuttle - three oxygen-hydrogen propulsion engines were located in the tail section of the ship (11D122 developed by KBEM with a thrust of 250 t.s. and a specific impulse of 353 sec on the ground and 455 sec in vacuum) with two protruding engine nacelles for orbital maneuvering engines.
The key issue was the engines, which had to be equal or superior in all major parameters to the characteristics of the onboard engines of the American SSME orbital vehicle and the side solid-fuel boosters.
The engines created at the Voronezh Chemical Automation Design Bureau were compared to their American counterpart:
- heavier (3450 versus 3117 kg),
- slightly larger in size (diameter and height: 2420 and 4550 versus 1630 and 4240 mm),
- with slightly less thrust (at sea level: 156 versus 181 t.s.), although in terms of specific impulse, which characterizes the efficiency of the engine, they were somewhat superior to it.
At the same time, a very significant problem was ensuring the reusability of these engines. For example, the Space Shuttle engines, which were originally created as reusable engines, ultimately required such a large amount of very expensive inter-launch maintenance work that economically the Shuttle did not completely live up to the expectations of reducing the cost of putting a kilogram of cargo into orbit.
It is known that to launch the same payload into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, for geographical reasons, it is necessary to have greater thrust than from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome. To launch the Space Shuttle system, two solid fuel boosters with a thrust of 1280 t.s. are used. each (the most powerful rocket engines in history), with a total thrust at sea level of 2560 t.s., plus the total thrust of the three SSME engines of 570 t.s., which together creates a thrust at liftoff from the launch pad of 3130 t.s. This is enough to launch a payload of up to 110 tons into orbit from the Canaveral Cosmodrome, including the shuttle itself (78 tons), up to 8 astronauts (up to 2 tons) and up to 29.5 tons of cargo in the cargo compartment. Accordingly, to launch 110 tons of payload into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, all other things being equal, it is necessary to create approximately 15% more thrust when lifting off from the launch pad, that is, about 3600 t.s.
The Soviet orbital ship OS-120 (OS means “orbital aircraft”) was supposed to weigh 120 tons (add to the weight of the American shuttle two turbojet engines for flight in the atmosphere and an ejection system for two pilots in an emergency). A simple calculation shows that to put a payload of 120 tons into orbit, a thrust on the launch pad of more than 4000 t.s. is required.
At the same time, it turned out that the thrust of the propulsion engines of the orbital ship, if we use a similar configuration of the shuttle with 3 engines, is inferior to the American one (465 hp versus 570 hp), which is completely insufficient for the second stage and the final launch of the shuttle into orbit. Instead of three engines, it was necessary to install 4 RD-0120 engines, but in the design of the orbital ship’s airframe there was no space and weight reserve. The designers had to dramatically reduce the weight of the shuttle.
This is how the OK-92 orbital ship project was born, the weight of which was reduced to 92 tons due to the refusal to place propulsion engines together with a system of cryogenic pipelines, locking them when separating the external tank, etc. As a result of the development of the project, four (instead of three) RD-0120 engines were moved from the rear fuselage of the orbital ship to the lower part of the fuel tank. However, unlike the Shuttle, which was unable to perform such active orbital maneuvers, Buran was equipped with 16-ton thrust maneuvering engines, which allowed it to change its orbit within a wide range if necessary.
On January 9, 1976, the general designer of NPO Energia, Valentin Glushko, approved the “Technical Certificate” containing comparative analysis a new version of the OK-92 ship.
After the release of Resolution No. 132-51, the development of the orbiter airframe, means of air transportation of ISS elements and the automatic landing system was entrusted to the specially organized NPO Molniya, headed by Gleb Evgenievich Lozino-Lozinsky.
The changes also affected the side accelerators. The USSR did not have the design experience, necessary technology and equipment to produce such large and powerful solid fuel boosters, which are used in the Space Shuttle system and provide 83% of the thrust at launch. A harsher climate required more complex chemicals to operate in a wider temperature range, solid fuel boosters created dangerous vibrations, did not allow thrust control and destroyed the ozone layer of the atmosphere with their exhaust. In addition, solid fuel engines are inferior in specific efficiency to liquid ones - and the USSR required, due to the geographical location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, greater efficiency to launch a payload equal to the Shuttle's specifications. The designers of NPO Energia decided to use the most powerful liquid rocket engine available - an engine created under the leadership of Glushko, a four-chamber RD-170, which could develop a thrust (after modification and modernization) of 740 t.s. However, instead of two side accelerators of 1280 t.s. use four of 740 each. The total thrust of the side accelerators together with the second stage engines RD-0120 upon lifting off from the launch pad reached 3425 t.s., which is approximately equal to the starting thrust of the Saturn-5 system with the Apollo spacecraft (3500 t.s. .).
The possibility of reusing side accelerators was the ultimate requirement of the customer - the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Ministry of Defense represented by D. F. Ustinov. It was officially believed that the side accelerators were reusable, but in those two Energia flights that took place, the task of preserving the side accelerators was not even raised. American boosters are lowered by parachute into the ocean, which ensures a fairly “soft” landing, sparing the engines and booster housings. Unfortunately, under the conditions of launch from the Kazakh steppe, there is no chance of “splashdown” of the boosters, and a parachute landing in the steppe is not soft enough to preserve the engines and rocket bodies. Gliding or parachute landing with powder engines, although designed, was not implemented in the first two test flights, and further developments in this direction, including the rescue of both first and second stage blocks using wings, were not carried out due to the closure of the program.
The changes that distinguished the Energia-Buran system from the Space Shuttle system had the following results:
Military-political system
According to foreign specialists"Buran" was a response to a similar American project "Space Shuttle" and was conceived as a military system, which, however, was a response to what was then believed to be the planned use of American shuttles for military purposes.
The program has its own background:
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Reusable space systems had both strong supporters and authoritative opponents in the USSR. Wanting to finally decide on the ISS, GUKOS decided to choose an authoritative arbiter in the dispute between the military and industry, instructing the head institute of the Ministry of Defense for military space (TsNII 50) to carry out research work (R&D) to justify the need for the ISS to solve problems regarding the country's defense capability. But this did not bring clarity, since General Melnikov, who led this institute, decided to play it safe, and issued two “reports”: one in favor of the creation of the ISS, the other against it. In the end, both of these reports, overgrown with numerous authoritative “Agreed” and “I approve,” met in the most inappropriate place - on D. F. Ustinov’s desk. Irritated by the results of the “arbitration,” Ustinov called Glushko and asked to bring him up to date, introducing detailed information according to the ISS options, but Glushko unexpectedly sent his employee to a meeting with the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, a candidate member of the Politburo, instead of himself - the General Designer, etc. O. Head of Department 162 Valery Burdakov.
Arriving at Ustinov’s office on Staraya Square, Burdakov began answering questions from the Secretary of the Central Committee. Ustinov was interested in all the details: why the ISS is needed, what it could be like, what we need for this, why the United States is creating its own shuttle, what this threatens us with. As Valery Pavlovich later recalled, Ustinov was primarily interested in the military capabilities of the ISS, and he presented to D. F. Ustinov his vision of using orbital shuttles as possible carriers of thermonuclear weapons, which could be based at permanent military orbital stations in immediate readiness to deliver a crushing blow to anywhere on the planet.
The prospects for the ISS presented by Burdakov so deeply excited and interested D. F. Ustinov that he quickly prepared a decision that was discussed in the Politburo, approved and signed by L. I. Brezhnev, and the topic of a reusable space system received maximum priority among all space programs in the party and state leadership and the military-industrial complex.
Drawings and photographs of the shuttle were first received in the USSR through the GRU in early 1975. Two examinations on the military component were immediately carried out: at military research institutes and at the Institute of Applied Mathematics under the leadership of Mstislav Keldysh. Conclusions: “the future reusable ship will be able to carry nuclear weapons and attack the territory of the USSR with them from almost any point in near-Earth space” and “The American shuttle with a carrying capacity of 30 tons, if loaded with nuclear warheads, is capable of flying outside the radio visibility zone of the domestic missile attack warning system. Having performed an aerodynamic maneuver, for example, over the Gulf of Guinea, he can release them across the territory of the USSR,” the USSR leadership pushed to create an answer - “Buran”.
And they say that we will fly there once a week, you know... But there are no targets or cargo, and the fear immediately arises that they are creating a ship for some future tasks that we do not know about. Possible military use? Undoubtedly.
And so they demonstrated this when they flew over the Kremlin on the Shuttle, this was a surge of our military, politicians, and so a decision was made at one time: to develop a technique for intercepting space targets, high ones, with the help of airplanes.
By December 1, 1988, there had been at least one classified Shuttle launch with military missions (NASA flight number STS-27). In 2008, it became known that during a flight on behalf of the NRO and the CIA, the Lacrosse 1 all-weather reconnaissance satellite was launched into orbit. (English) Russian, who took photographs in the radio range using radar.
The United States stated that the Space Shuttle system was created as part of a program of a civilian organization - NASA. The Space Task Force, led by Vice President S. Agnew in 1969-1970, developed several options for promising programs for the peaceful exploration of outer space after the end of the lunar program. In 1972, Congress, based on economic analysis, supported the project to create reusable shuttles to replace disposable rockets.
List of products
By the time the program was closed (early 1990s), five flight prototypes of the Buran spacecraft had been built or were under construction:
- Product 1.01 “Buran”- the ship made a space flight in automatic mode. It was located in the collapsed assembly and testing building at the 112th site of the cosmodrome, completely destroyed along with the Energia launch vehicle mock-up during the collapse of assembly and testing building No. 112 on May 12, 2002. Was the property of Kazakhstan.
- Product 1.02 “Storm” - was supposed to make a second flight in automatic mode with docking with the manned station “Mir”. It is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and is the property of Kazakhstan. In April 2007, a mass-dimensional model of the product, which had previously been lying abandoned under open air, installed in the exhibition of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum (site 2). The 1.02 product itself, together with the OK-MT prototype, is located in the installation and filling case, and there is no free access to it. However, in May-June 2015, blogger Ralph Mirebs managed to take a number of photographs of the collapsing shuttle and mock-up.
- Product 2.01 “Baikal” - the degree of readiness of the ship at the time of termination of work was 30-50%. Until 2004, it was in the workshops; in October 2004, it was transported to the pier of the Khimki Reservoir for temporary storage. On June 22-23, 2011, it was transported by river transport to the airfield in Zhukovsky for restoration and subsequent display at the MAKS air show.
- Product 2.02 - was 10-20% ready. Dismantled (partially) on the stocks of the Tushinsky Machine-Building Plant.
- Product 2.03 - the backlog was destroyed in the workshops of the Tushinsky Machine-Building Plant.
List of layouts
During the work on the Buran project, several prototypes were made for dynamic, electrical, airfield and other tests. After the program was closed, these products remained on the balance sheet of various research institutes and production associations. It is known, for example, that the rocket and space corporation Energia and NPO Molniya have prototypes.
- BTS-001 OK-ML-1 (product 0.01) was used to test the air transportation of the orbital complex. In 1993, the full-size model was leased to the Space-Earth society (president - cosmonaut German Titov). Until June 2014, it was installed on the Pushkinskaya Embankment of the Moscow River in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after. Gorky. As of December 2008, a scientific and educational attraction was organized there. On the night of July 5-6, 2014, the model was moved to the territory of VDNKh to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VDNKh.
- OK-KS (product 0.03) is a full-size complex stand. Used for testing air transportation, complex testing of software, electrical and radio testing of systems and equipment. Until 2012, it was located in the building of the control and testing station of RSC Energia, the city of Korolev. It was moved to the territory adjacent to the building of the center, where conservation is now taking place. . Will go to Sochi.
- OK-ML1 (product 0.04) was used for dimensional and weight fitting tests. Located in the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum.
- OK-TVA (product 0.05) was used for heat-vibration-strength tests. Located at TsAGI. As of 2011, all mock-up compartments were destroyed, with the exception of the left wing with the landing gear and standard thermal protection, which were included in the orbital ship mock-up.
- OK-TVI (product 0.06) was a model for heat-vacuum tests. Located in NIIKhimMash, Peresvet, Moscow region.
- OK-MT (product 0.15) was used to practice pre-launch operations (refueling the ship, fitting and docking work, etc.). Currently located at the Baikonur site 112A, ( 45°55′10″ n. w. 63°18′36″ E. d. HGIOL) in building 80, together with product 1.02 “Storm”. It is the property of Kazakhstan.
- 8M (product 0.08) - the model is only a model of the cabin with hardware filling. Used to test the reliability of ejection seats. After completing the work, he was located on the territory of the 29th Clinical Hospital in Moscow, then was transported to the Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow. Currently located on the territory of the 83rd clinical hospital of the FMBA (since 2011 - Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Specialized Types medical care and medical technologies FMBA).
In philately
Almost everyone who lived in the USSR and who is even slightly interested in astronautics has heard about the legendary Buran, a winged spacecraft launched into orbit in conjunction with the Energia launch vehicle. Pride of the Soviet space rocket science, the Buran orbiter made its only flight during perestroika and was severely damaged when the roof of a hangar at Baikonur collapsed at the beginning of the new millennium. What is the fate of this ship, and why the program of the reusable space system "Energia-Buran" was frozen, we will try to figure it out.
History of creation
"Buran" is a winged space orbital ship of reusable aircraft configuration. Its development began in 1974-1975 on the basis of the Integrated Rocket and Space Program, which was the Soviet cosmonautics response to the news in 1972 that the United States had launched the Space Shuttle program. So the development of such a ship was at that time a strategically important task to deter a potential enemy and maintain the Soviet Union’s position as a space superpower.
The first Buran projects, which appeared in 1975, were almost identical to the American shuttles not only in appearance, but also in the structural arrangement of the main components and blocks, including propulsion engines. After numerous modifications, Buran became the way the whole world remembered it after its flight in 1988.
Unlike the American shuttles, it could deliver a larger weight of cargo into orbit (up to 30 tons), and also return up to 20 tons to the ground. But the main difference between the Buran and the shuttles, which determined its design, was the different placement and number of engines. The domestic ship did not have propulsion engines, which were transferred to the launch vehicle, but there were engines for further launching it into orbit. In addition, they turned out to be somewhat heavier.
The first, only and completely successful flight of the Buran took place on November 15, 1988. The ISS Energia-Buran was launched into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6.00 am. It was a completely autonomous flight, not controlled from the ground. The flight lasted 206 minutes, during which the ship took off, entered Earth's orbit, flew around the Earth twice, returned safely and landed at the airfield. This was an extremely joyful event for all developers, designers, and everyone who in any way participated in the creation of this technical miracle.
It is sad that this particular ship, which made an “independent” triumphant flight, was buried in 2002 under the rubble of a collapsed hangar roof.
In the 90s government funding space development began to decline sharply, and in 1991 the ISS Energia-Buran was transferred from a defense program to a space program to solve national economic problems, after which in 1992 the Russian Space Agency decided to stop work on the Energia-Buran reusable system project. Buran”, and the created reserve was preserved.
Ship structure
The ship's fuselage is conventionally divided into 3 compartments: bow (for the crew), middle (for payload) and tail.
The bow of the hull structurally consists of a bow cooker, a pressurized cabin and an engine compartment. The interior of the cabin is divided by floors that form decks. Decks together with frames provide the necessary strength to the cabin. In the front part of the cabin there are windows on top.
The cockpit is divided into three functional parts: the command compartment, where the main crew is located; living compartment - to accommodate additional crew, spacesuits, sleeping places, life support systems, personal hygiene products, five blocks with control system equipment, elements of the thermal control system, radio engineering and telemetry equipment; an aggregate compartment that ensures the operation of thermoregulation and life support systems.
A spacious cargo compartment is provided to accommodate cargo on the Buran. total volume approximately 350 m3, 18.3 m long and 4.7 m in diameter. For example, the Kvant module or the main unit of the Mir station would fit here, while this compartment also allows servicing placed cargo and monitoring the operation of on-board systems until the very moment of unloading from Buran.
The total length of the Buran ship is 36.4 m, the fuselage diameter is 5.6 m, the height on the chassis is 16.5 m, the wingspan is 24 m. The chassis has a base of 13 m, a track of 7 m.
The main crew was planned to consist of 2-4 people, but the spacecraft can take on board an additional 6-8 researchers to carry out various work in orbit, that is, Buran can actually be called a ten-seat vehicle.
Flight duration is determined special program, the maximum time is set to 30 days. In orbit, good maneuverability of the Buran spacecraft is ensured thanks to additional fuel reserves of up to 14 tons, the nominal fuel reserve is 7.5 tons. The integrated propulsion system of the Buran vehicle is complex system, including 48 engines: 2 orbital maneuvering engines for further insertion of the vehicle into orbit with a thrust of 8.8 tons, 38 motion control jet engines with a thrust of 390 kg and another 8 engines for precision movements (precise orientation) with a thrust of 20 kg. All these engines are powered from single tanks by hydrocarbon fuel “cycline” and liquid oxygen.
The Buran's tail compartment houses the orbital maneuvering engines, and the control engines are located in the blocks of the nose and tail compartments. Early designs also included two 8-ton thrust air-breathing engines to enable deep lateral maneuvering in landing mode. These engines were not included in later ship designs.
Buran engines make it possible to perform the following main operations: stabilization of the Energia-Buran complex before its separation from the second stage, separation and removal of the Buran spacecraft from the launch vehicle, its final insertion into the initial orbit, formation and correction of the working orbit, orientation and stabilization, inter-orbital transitions, rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft, deorbiting and braking, controlling the position of the vehicle relative to its center of mass, etc.
At all stages of the flight, the Buran is controlled by the ship’s electronic brain; it also controls the operation of all bot systems and provides navigation. In the final insertion section, it controls the exit to the reference orbit. During an orbital flight, it provides orbit correction, deorbiting and immersion into the atmosphere to an acceptable altitude with subsequent return to the working orbit, program turns and orientation, inter-orbital transitions, hovering, rendezvous and docking with a collaborating object, rotation around any of the three axes. During descent, it controls the ship's deorbit, its descent into the atmosphere, necessary lateral maneuvers, arrival at the airfield and landing.
The basis of the automatic ship control system is a high-speed computing complex, represented by four interchangeable computers. The complex is capable of instantly solving all problems within the framework of its functions and, first of all, linking the current ballistic parameters of the ship with the flight program. The automatic control system of the Buran is so perfect that during future flights the ship’s crew in this system is considered only as a link that duplicates the automation. This was the fundamental difference between the Soviet shuttle and the American shuttles - our Buran could complete the entire flight in automatic unmanned mode, travel into space, return safely to the ground and land at the airfield, which was clearly demonstrated by its only flight in 1988. The landing of the American shuttles was carried out entirely on manual control when the engines are not running.
Our machine was much more maneuverable, more complex, “smarter” than its American predecessors and could automatically perform a wider range of functions.
In addition, Buran developed an emergency crew rescue system in emergency situations. At low altitudes, a catapult was intended for this purpose for the first two pilots; if an emergency occurred at a sufficient altitude, the ship could be disconnected from the launch vehicle and make an emergency landing.
For the first time in rocket science, a diagnostic system was used on a spacecraft, covering all systems of the spacecraft, connecting backup sets of equipment or switching to a backup mode in case of possible malfunctions.
The device is designed for 100 flights in both autonomous and manned modes.
Present
The winged spacecraft "Buran" did not find peaceful use, since the program itself was defense and could not be integrated into the peaceful economy, especially after the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, it was a big technological breakthrough; dozens of new technologies and new materials were developed at Buran, and it is a pity that these achievements were not applied and developed further.
Where are now the famous Burans of the past, on which the best minds, thousands of workers worked, and on which so much effort was spent and so much hope was placed?
In total, there were five copies of the winged ship "Buran", including unfinished and started devices.
1.01 "Buran" - carried out the only unmanned space flight. It was stored at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the installation and testing building. At the time of destruction during a roof collapse in May 2002, it was the property of Kazakhstan.
1.02 – the ship was intended for a second flight in autopilot mode and docking with the Mir space station. It is also owned by Kazakhstan and installed in the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum as an exhibit.
2.01 – the ship’s readiness was 30 - 50%. He was at the Tushinsky Machine-Building Plant until 2004, then spent 7 years at the pier of the Khimki Reservoir. And finally, in 2011, it was transported for restoration to the Zhukovsky airfield.
2.02 - 10-20% readiness. Partially dismantled on the stocks of the Tushinsky plant.
2.03 - the reserve was completely destroyed.
Possible prospects
The Energia-Buran project was closed, among other reasons, because it was unnecessary to deliver large loads into orbit, as well as their return. Built for defensive rather than peaceful purposes, in the era of " star wars", the domestic space shuttle "Buran" was far ahead of its time.
Who knows, maybe his time will come. When space exploration becomes more active, when cargo and passengers will need to be frequently delivered to orbit and, conversely, to the ground.
And when the designers finalize that part of the program that concerns the preservation and relatively safe return to earth of the launch vehicle stages, that is, they make the orbital launch system more convenient, which will significantly reduce the cost and make reusable not only the use of the cruise ship, but also the system “ Energia-Buran" as a whole.
To create the glider for the Buran orbital ship, a specialized enterprise was formed - the Molniya research and production association - on the basis of three design bureaus (Molniya Design Bureau, Burevestnik Design Bureau and the Experimental Machine-Building Plant headed by General Designer Vladimir Myasishchev). The Tushinsky Machine-Building Plant was chosen as the main production base. The new association was headed by Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, who back in the 1960s worked on the Spiral reusable aerospace system project.
Currently, several mock-ups and flight copies have been preserved.
The flying ship "Buran" was mothballed and left in the installation and testing building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). In 2002, the ship was completely destroyed when the hull roof collapsed on it.
The second ship, which was supposed to fly in automatic mode with docking with the manned Mir station, remained at Baikonur. In April 2007, it was installed in the exhibition of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum. It is the property of Kazakhstan.
The third ship (the degree of readiness of the ship at the time of cessation of work was 30-50%) until 2004 was in the workshops of the Tushinsky Machine-Building Plant, in October 2004 it was transported to the pier of the Khimki Reservoir for temporary storage. In June 2011, it was transported by river transport to the airfield in the city of Zhukovsky for restoration and subsequent display at the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS-2011).
After the air show, a mock-up of the spacecraft is in one of the pavilions of the Ramenskoye (Zhukovsky) airfield.
After the closure of the Molniya program in 1993, one of the Buran models, Buran BTS-002, was demonstrated at the air show of the International Aviation and Space Salon. In 1999, the model was leased to an Australian company for display on Olympic Games in Sydney, and then to a Singaporean company, which took him to Bahrain. In 2003, NPO Molniya sold Buran BTS-002 to the private Technical Museum in Speyer (Germany), where it arrived on April 12, 2008. It is currently installed as an exhibit in the Speyer Technical Museum.
Another full-size mock-up of Buran (BTS-001), which was used to test the air transportation of the orbital complex, was leased to the Space-Earth society in 1993. "Buran" was installed in Moscow on the Pushkinskaya embankment of the Moscow River in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after Gorky, and a scientific and educational attraction was organized there. Now it is one of the attractions of the park.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The Buran snowmobile is a domestic snowmobile. We can say that this is a legend of Soviet industry. It belongs to the class of so-called ones intended for work. The Buran snowmobile, the photo of which is presented below, is produced in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region. It first appeared on the assembly line in 1971. Since then, its design has not changed at all.
The Buran snowmobile, the technical characteristics of which evoke many positive emotions, was built entirely in Russia, by domestic engineers, using our units. It exists in two versions: short wheelbase and long wheelbase.
Background
In the post-war period, residents of the northern regions of the USSR and Siberia were in dire need of small transport capable of overcoming any snow jams. The result of the developments of Soviet engineers was the Buran snowmobile. engine of this vehicle allows you to learn many things about the developments of that time. The predecessor of the Buran was the snowmobile, which was used even before the war by the Red Army. But the founder of this type of transport is considered to be the Bombardier company.
Engine and fuel
The Buran has a two-stroke engine. The successful design allowed it to exist for almost four decades and reach the present day without any major alterations. Runs on an oil-fuel mixture. Gasoline is poured along with oil. There is no separate lubrication system provided here.
Access to the engine compartment is very convenient. It's very simple. You just need to open the hood of the snowmobile, and you can reach any unit. The engine compartment is very large. It should be noted that the hood is attached very conveniently and is fixed with two wide air intakes on its upper part. They serve for good air cooling of the engine, which produces 34 horsepower. is about 60-70 km/h. "Buran" has a disc brake system.
The fuel tank is quite large and located at the front. If you compare it with a car, it is in the place of the radiator. Capacity - 35 liters. The Buran snowmobile, which has about 15-20 liters per 100 km, can be called a very voracious unit. Gasoline is used AI-92. Filled with oil. Diluted 1:50 - 1 liter of oil for 50 liters of gasoline. It is used in the same way as in imported chainsaws. The hatch for refueling the snowmobile is located in front, under the headlight.
Body and transmission
The driver's seat is also located behind the hood. In the double version there is a passenger seat behind it. There is a backrest for it at the back. Under the seat there is a battery and a luggage compartment, impressive in size. Therefore, it is better to buy a long-wheelbase Buran snowmobile. Technical characteristics The transmission looks like this: a CVT gearbox, only two speeds, front and rear. There is also a neutral position.
At the rear there is a block headlight and a towbar to which you can attach a sled. The dimensions of the snowmobile are small, which makes it very compact and convenient for transportation.
Chassis
On the instrument panel there is a speedometer, a control for turning on the low and high beams. The accelerator is located on the right handlebar, next to the brakes for two tracks. There is one ski at the front, which provides controllability of the snowmobile. It has a suspension that is an inverted spring. It was taken from some domestic car. Two tracks provide good maneuverability. Much better than some expensive, imported snowmobiles. This sets it apart from its foreign competitors.
The Buran snowmobile, the price of which is much lower, can compete with Yamaha or Polaris. But still, one ski significantly worsens the maneuverability of the snowmobile. To turn around you have to make several maneuvers. This puts him behind his competitors. This is especially not very convenient on ice.
Start of movement
Starting the engine is very convenient. It is necessary to switch the position to the on mode, pull out the “choke” and pull the start cord towards you. It is located at the bottom right, under the steering wheel. Everything starts up. By the way, the ignition switches are used from GAZ cars, so in the event of a breakdown there will be no problems with finding and compatible spare parts.
There are also configurations with a starter, but they often have problems associated with the constant discharge of the battery and the eternal “burning out” of the domestic starter, which is used from one of our cars. To start moving, you need to move the transmission handle to the desired position: forward or backward. Then all that remains is to press the accelerator lever. The snowmobile is “enough” right away. He has very good lows.
Bottom line
An indispensable piece of equipment in the vast Siberian expanses is, of course, the Buran snowmobile. The technical characteristics of the transmission allow it to overcome even the most impassable snow jams. Its additional advantage is a large trunk, which is very useful in the taiga, when every piece of free space is worth its weight in gold. A lot of fish, additional fuel or provisions will fit here. There is also enough space for spare parts, since this is still equipment, and it sometimes breaks down.
Therefore, a good solution for conquering domestic snowy expanses is the Buran snowmobile. Its price is the lowest of all those presented on Russian market models. True, there is an eternal problem domestic technology- this is the build quality, but that's a completely different story.
On November 15, 1988, the Buran reusable spacecraft was launched. After the universal rocket and space transport system "Energia" with "Buran" was launched, it entered orbit, made two orbits around the Earth and made an automatic landing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
This flight was an outstanding breakthrough in Soviet science and discovered new stage in the development of the Soviet space research program.
The fact that in the Soviet Union it is necessary to create a domestic reusable space system, which would serve as a counterweight in the policy of containing potential adversaries (Americans), according to analytical studies carried out by the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and NPO Energia (1971-1975). The result was the assertion that if the Americans launch the reusable Space Shuttle system, they will gain an advantage and the ability to launch nuclear missile strikes. And although the American system did not pose an immediate threat at that time, it could threaten the country's security in the future.
Work on the creation of the Energia-Buran program began in 1976. About 2.5 million people took part in this process, representing 86 ministries and departments, as well as about 1,300 enterprises throughout the territory Soviet Union. To develop the new spacecraft, NPO Molniya was specially created, headed by G.E. Lozino-Lozinsky, who already in the 60s worked on the reusable rocket and space system Spiral. 
It should also be noted that, despite the fact that the ideas for creating spaceships-airplanes were first expressed by the Russians, namely Friedrich Zander back in 1921, domestic designers were in no hurry to bring his ideas to life, since this matter seemed to them extremely troublesome . True, work was carried out on the construction of a Gliding Spacecraft, but due to technical problems that arose, all work was stopped.
But work on creating winged spaceships began to be carried out only in response to the start of such work by the Americans. 
So, when in the 60s in the USA work began on creating the Dyna-Soar rocket plane, the USSR began work on creating the R-1, R-2, Tu-130 and Tu-136 rocket planes. But the greatest success of Soviet designers was the Spiral project, which was to become the harbinger of Buran.
From the very beginning, the program to create a new spacecraft was torn apart by conflicting demands: on the one hand, the designers were required to copy the American Shuttle in order to reduce possible technical risks, reduce the time and cost of development, on the other hand, the need to adhere to the program put forward by B .Glushko about the creation of unified rockets intended for landing an expedition on the surface of the Moon.
During the formation appearance"Buran" was offered two options. The first option was similar to the American Shuttle and was a horizontal landing aircraft with engines located in the tail. The second option was a wingless scheme with vertical landing, its advantage was that it was possible to reduce design time by using data on the Soyuz spacecraft. 
As a result, after testing, a horizontal landing scheme was adopted as the basis, since it most fully met the requirements. The payload was located on the side, and the second stage propulsion engines were located in the central block. The choice of this location was due to the lack of confidence that short terms it will be possible to create a reusable hydrogen engine, as well as the need to preserve a full-fledged launch vehicle, which could independently launch into orbit not only a ship, but also large volumes of payloads. If we look a little ahead, we note that such a decision was completely justified: Energia was able to ensure the launch of large-sized vehicles into orbit (it was 5 times more powerful than the Proton launch vehicle and 3 times more powerful than the Space Shuttle).
The first and only singing of “Burana,” as we said above, took place in 1988. The flight was carried out in unmanned mode, that is, there was no crew on it. It should be noted that, despite the external similarity with the American Shuttle, the Soviet model had a number of advantages. First of all, these ships were distinguished by the fact that the domestic one could launch into space, in addition to the ship itself, additional cargo, and also had greater maneuverability during landing. The shuttles were designed in such a way that they landed with their engines turned off, so they could not try again if necessary. "Buran" was equipped with turbojet engines, which provided such an opportunity in case of bad weather conditions. weather conditions or any unforeseen situations. In addition, the Buran was equipped with an emergency crew rescue system. At low altitudes, the cockpit with the pilots could be ejected, and at high altitudes it was possible to disconnect the module from the launch vehicle and make an emergency landing. Another significant difference was the automatic flight mode, which was not available on American ships. 
It should also be noted that the Soviet designers had no illusions about the cost-effectiveness of the project - according to calculations, launching one Buran cost the same as launching hundreds of disposable rockets. However, the Soviet ship was originally developed as a military space system. After graduation Cold War this aspect has ceased to be relevant, which cannot be said about spending. Therefore, his fate was sealed.
In general, the program to create the multi-purpose spacecraft "Buran" provided for the creation of five ships. Of these, only three were constructed (the construction of the rest had only just begun, but after the program was closed, all the groundwork for them was destroyed). The first of them visited space, the second became an attraction in the Moscow Gorky Park, and the third is in the museum of technology in Sinsheim, Germany. 
But first, technological mock-ups (9 in total) were created in full size, which were intended for strength testing and crew training.
It should also be noted that almost enterprises from all over the Soviet Union took part in the creation of Buran. Thus, at the Kharkov Energopribor, an autonomous control complex for Energia was created, which launched the ship into space. The Antonov ASTC carried out the design and manufacture of parts for the ship and also created the An-225 Mriya, which was used to deliver the Buran.
To test the Buran spacecraft, 27 candidates were trained, who were divided into military and civilian test pilots. This division was caused by the fact that this ship was planned to be used not only for defense purposes, but also for the needs national economy. Colonel Ivan Bachurin and experienced civilian pilot Igor Vovk were appointed leaders of the group (this was the reason why his group was called the “wolf pack”). 
Despite the fact that the Buran flight was carried out in automatic mode, seven testers still managed to go into orbit, however, on other ships: I. Vovk, A. Levchenko, V. Afanasyev, A. Artsebarsky, G. Manakov, L. Kadenyuk, V. Tokarev. Unfortunately, many of them are no longer among us.
The civilian detachment lost more testers - the testers, continuing preparations for the Buran program, simultaneously tested other aircraft, flew and died one after another. O. Kononenko was the first to die. A. Levchenko followed him. A little later, A. Shchukin, R. Stankyavichus, Y. Prikhodko, Y. Sheffer also passed away.
Commander I. Vovk himself, having lost so many people close to him, left flying service in 2002. And a few months later, trouble happened to the Buran ship itself: it was damaged by debris from the roof of one of the installation and testing buildings at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the ship was in storage. 
In some media you can find information that there were actually two Buran flights, but one was unsuccessful, so information about it is classified. Thus, in particular, it is said that in 1992, another spacecraft similar to the Buran, the Baikal, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but in the first seconds of the flight an engine malfunction occurred. The automation worked and the ship began to return.
In fact, everything is explained extremely simply. In 1992, all work on Buran was stopped. As for the name, the ship was originally called “Baikal”, but the top Soviet leadership did not like it, who recommended changing it to a more sonorous one – “Buran”. At least, this is what G. Ponomarev, commander of the engineering and testing department of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, who was directly involved in the program, claims.
To this day, disputes have not subsided as to whether Buran was needed at all, and why it was necessary to waste such a huge amount funds for a project that is not even being used now. But be that as it may, for that time it was a real breakthrough in space science, and even today it has not yet been possible to surpass it.
