Energia-Buran Reusable Space System sitting on the launch pad
The design requirements specified for the MKS called for a vehicle to accomplish the following goals: - Denial of the use of space for military purposes by the enemy.
- Research into questions of interest to the military, science, and the national economy.
- Applied military research and experiments using large space complexes.
- Delivery to orbit and return to Earth of spacecraft, cosmonauts, and supplies.
- Delivery of a 30 ton payload to orbit, followed by seven days of orbital operations and return of a 20 ton payload to Earth.
- Exploit the technology developed for the American Space Shuttle in order to enhance Soviet space technology capability.
The last goal is of particular interest. The Soviets had attempted to build their own equivalent to the Saturn V that carried American astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo program. The Soviet rocket, known as the N1, had been a failure causing national leaders to fear Russia lagged behind the US in heavy-lift rocket technology. The Soviet solution was to attempt to copy as much of the American Shuttle design as possible in order to ensure the success of Buran. However, they modified the American approach, where necessary, to take advantage of Soviet strengths and eliminate technologies beyond Russian capabilities. For example, the Soviets had no experience building large solid rocket motors like those being developed as reusable boosters for the American Shuttle. They did, however, have a large liquid oxygen and kerosene engine under development that could be substituted as an equivalent booster rocket. The Soviets also had little experience with cryogenic propellants, like those to be used in the main engines on the American orbiter, and lacked the ability to make such engines reusable.
These considerations led to a number of key decisions in the MKS design. For example, the lack of reusable rocket engines meant there was no need to carry the main engines aboard the Buran orbiter itself. The booster system was instead composed of a large central core called the Energia rocket that took the place occupied by the external fuel tank on the US Shuttle. This central core was surrounded by four liquid rocket strap-on boosters similar to the two solid rocket boosters used in the American design. Unlike the US Shuttle, this basic core and strap-on system could also be used as an independent rocket in its own right. The Energia core was a modular design that could be equipped with one to four rocket engines and anywhere from two to eight strap-on boosters. The Energia could also be fitted with different payload capsules permitting considerable flexibility in the launch configuration. The Buran orbiter, in fact, was just one of several payload options that could be attached to the Energia core.
Launch configuration comparison between the US Space Shuttle and Buran
The orbiter itself was an external copy of the American Shuttle but with a number of differences in design details. Although Soviet engineers considered a number of exotic and innovative lifting body configurations for the reusable spacecraft, none appeared to be superior to the shape chosen by the Americans for their orbiter. The Soviets did add a few changes of their own, however. Most notably, removing the propulsion system from the orbiter allowed the vehicle to carry a larger payload of 30 tons into orbit compared to the 25-ton maximum of the US Shuttle. The landing weight was similarly increased to 20 tons from the 15-ton limit for the American orbiter. The Soviets also made provisions to add a pair of jet engines to the aft end of their orbiter so that the final stage of landing could be performed under power. By contrast, the US orbiter is unpowered and must glide to its landing. The engines would have given the Buran an additional safety factor to overcome adverse winds or waveoff and make a new approach to the runway. However, the idea was never implemented on Buran since it was ultimately deemed unnecessarily complicated. Otherwise, the general layout of the Buran was similar to that of the US orbiter and consisted of a long, cylindrically shaped fuselage attached to a low-mounted double delta wing. A two-deck crew cabin at the forward end of the fuselage contained the flight controls on the upper deck and living space below. Compared to the American orbiter, maximum crew size was increased from seven to ten with room for four cosmonauts provided on the main deck and the remaining six crew on the lower deck. Aft of the cabin was a large payload bay capable of carrying docking modules, a manipulator arm, and payload containers similar to those of the American Shuttle. Also like the US orbiter, the external surface of the Buran was covered with tens of thousands of thermal protection tiles and carbon-carbon material to survive the heat of re-entry. However, the Soviets believed that the orientation selected for the tiles was a more optimum configuration that that used by the US.
Buran covered with tiles to protect against heating during re-entry
As the overall configuration of the Buran was finalized, the Soviets constructed a number of test articles to validate different aspects of the design. Among the validation tasks were thrust stand measurements of the Energia rocket engines and wind tunnel plus gas dynamic tests of the Buran orbiter from subsonic landing to hypersonic re-entry speeds. The test vehicles included a series of sub-scale models of the Buran launched on sub-orbital flights to collect data on flight handling characteristics and control effectiveness at speeds up to Mach 17.5.
BOR sub-scale aerodynamic model of Buran
The program also included five full-scale mock-ups and three structural component test articles used to investigate a variety of manufacturing, assembly, and flying quality characteristics as well as handling procedures. Each of these test articles is described in greater detail below. Number | Designation | Name(s) | Purpose | Status |
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0.01 | OK-1M | OK-M BTS-01 OK-ML-1 | Full-scale test article used for part fit tests, static loads tests, and Energia interface tests. | Stored outdoors in the Buran safing area at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (picture) for many years under deteriorating conditions. Moved to a museum at Baikonur in 2007 (picture) where the craft has been restored for public display (picture). |
0.02 | OK-2M | OK-GLI BTS-02 | Full-scale aerodynamic flight test vehicle that completed 25 manned test flights. | Displayed during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Also displayed in Bahrain in 2002 where it remained stored in several pieces for five years. Finally purchased by the Technik Museum in Speyer, Germany, and put on display in 2008 (picture). |
0.03 | OK-3M | OK-KS | Full-scale test article for static electronic and electric tests, integration tests, and electromagnetic interference testing. | Stored at the Energia factory in Korolev near Moscow (picture). |
0.04 | OK-4M | OK-MT OK-ML-2 | Full-scale engineering mock-up used to develop technical and operations manuals, develop fluid loading methods, test crew entry and exits, and interface with the launch vehicle. | Stored in the MIK Building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (picture). |
0.05 | OK-5M | OK-? | Forward fuselage structural components used for static vibration and thermal tests. | unknown |
0.06 | OK-6M | OK-TVI | Center fuselage payload bay used for vacuum and thermal tests in an environmental chamber. | Stored at the NIIKhIMMash test facility in Moscow (picture). |
0.15 | OK-7M | OK-TVA | Full-scale static and dynamic test article used for flight load and stress tests, thermal and vibration tests, environmental chamber testing, and electrodynamic and electrohydraulic tests. | On display as an amusement park ride at Gorkiy Park in Moscow. The craft's condition had deteriorated by 2008 when the exterior, covered in fake wooden thermal files, was removed due to its decay in the elements (picture). The tile pattern has been painted directly onto the bare metal (picture) and the ride remains in operation. |
0.08 | OK-8M | OK-? | Structural components used for static thermal and vacuum tests. | unknown |
Analog Buran showing its four jet engines during a flight test
The Analog Buran was later sold to an Australian company that placed the vehicle on display at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Though the owner planned to take the vehicle on a tour of several Australian and Asian cities, poor ticket sales in Sydney doomed the venture and the company went bankrupt. An attempt to auction the Analog Buran for $6 million was unsuccessful, and the craft remained stored outdoors for at least a year before a new company purchased the vehicle. OK-GLI was moved to Bahrain where it was displayed during the 2002 Summer Festival. This owner also went bankrupt and was forced to abandon the Analog Buran in a Bahraini junkyard pending the outcome of legal battles with NPO Molniya, the Russian company that had built the craft. There the vehicle remained for another five years until purchased by the Technik Museum and put on exhibit in Germany. The various other mock-ups served a variety of purposes including static loads and vibration testing, environmental heating and vacuum testing, part fitment tests, developing methods for interfacing the orbiter with the Energia, and maintenance and transport procedures. One of these full-scale test articles later ended up in Moscow's Gorkiy Park where some have described it as "playground equipment." This mock-up was formerly the OK-TVA static and dynamic test article that developers had planned to convert into a space-themed restaurant serving the same kinds of food that cosmonauts eat in space. After this idea fell through, OK-TVA instead became an amusement park "space ride" attraction where visitors are treated to a simulated trip into space. The payload bay provides 30 seats moved by motors to simulate the g-loads during launch and landing as well as weightlessness in orbit. During the ride, movies from Buran's flight are projected on screens in front of and along the sides of the compartment. Customers can also tour the flight deck in the nose that has been equipped with a cockpit mock-up similar to that on a manned orbiter. The attraction's popularity has apparently been declining, however, and a sharp drop in ticket sales forced management to cut the ride's duration in half to 20 minutes by 2000.
OK-TVA static test article in Gorkiy Park
The information gained using these test articles culminated in the first successful flights of the Energia and Buran in the late 1980s. The Energia flew its first operational mission on 11 May 1987, and the launch vehicle performed flawlessly. This success spurred the Soviet's to attempt the first flight of the complete Buran-Energia system the following year. The launch occurred at 0600 on the morning of 15 November 1988 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is now Kazakhstan. Unlike American Shuttle missions, this flight was conducted without a single human aboard the vehicle. The first mission was launched unmanned since the life support system was still not certified or fully installed and software for cockpit displays was incomplete. Moreover, the primary goal of the flight was to test the automated launch, orbital maneuvering, and landing systems developed for the orbiter. It was considered unnecessary to risk a human crew on a shakedown flight.
Views of the Buran on its first and only flight
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In addition to the Buran, the Soviet program had originally planned to build four additional spaceworthy orbiters. Work had begun on all four but none were completed before the fall of the Soviet Union. Additional information on these orbiters is provided below.
Number | Designation | Name | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
1.01 | OK-1K1 | Buran | First orbiter to complete an unmanned space flight, life support systems never fully installed. | Destroyed during the collapse of the Site 112 roof at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2002. The orbiter's remains were still buried under the rubble of Site 112 at least as of early 2008. |
1.02 | OK-2K1 | Ptichka? | Construction was at least 95% complete with only a few electronic systems remaining to be installed. An unmanned flight had originally been planned for 1991 but a complete life support system may have been installed by 1993. | Stored in the MIK Building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (picture). |
2.01 | OK-1K2 | unnamed | First orbiter to be equipped for manned flight but only about 40% complete when work stopped. The first manned flight was planned for 1995. | Remained in the Tushino factory in Moscow where it was being assembled until 2004 when it was moved outdoors reportedly so it could be transferred to NPO Molniya or sold to the Technik Museum in Germany (picture). The craft remained in a Tushino parking lot at least five years later (picture). |
2.02 | OK-2K2 | unnamed | Second manned orbiter under construction but only about 20% complete when work stopped. | Moved outdoors of the Tushino factory where it was being assembled. Stripped components like thermal tiles have been sold over the internet (picture). |
2.03 | OK-3K2 | unnamed | Third manned orbiter under construction but never completed. | Incomplete hulk was dismantled at the factory and no longer exists. |
Shattered remains of an Energia booster, inset shows the extent of the damage to Site 112 |
The loss of the only flight-worthy vehicle and the poor state of the infrastructure originally put in place to manufacture, launch, maintain, and support the Russian shuttle has almost surely sounded the death-knell of the Buran project once and for all.
If you'd like to learn more about the history of the Soviet space program and the role Buran played, you might enjoy Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier? by Brian Harvey and Kosmos featuring the photography of Adam Bartos.
- answer by Jeff Scott, 7 December 2003 (revised October 2010)
Update!
New photos of the wreckage at Site 112 have become available showing the extent of the damage to the Buran orbiter. While the remains of the launcher are obvious in this first photo, Buran is difficult to make out. The most identifiable pieces are the forward fuselage containing the crew cabin that can be seen in the center of the photo and one of the aft thruster pods visible on the right.
Crushed wreckage of Buran seen from overhead |
Closeup of the destroyed Buran orbiter |
The Site 112 photos suggest that Buran and the Energia booster were essentially broken in half after the building's roof fell on the middle of the shuttle stack. The damage is extensive and the Buran is a total loss. The Buran wreckage apparently still remains in Site 112 as no attempt has been made to clear the debris from the roof collapse. - answer by Jeff Scott, 5 February 2007