Soviet Space Shuttle Buran |
Space Shuttle Buran was the Soviet conmpetitor to the North American Rockwell Space Shuttles. It made one unmanned orbital flight on November 15, 1988. It was displayed at the Paris Airshow in June 1989 mounted on the back of the Antonov An-225 Mriya. It was destroyed when the building it was stored in collapsed.
The first appearance in the West of
the An-225 Mriya, CCCP-82060, was at the June, 1989 Paris Airshow
at le Bourget Aerodrome with the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran
mounted on its back.
The nose visor of the An-225 Mriya
is essentially the same as that of the An-124 Ruslan. The nose
gear is in the fully extended position and the ramp is retracted.
Twin vertical stabilizers were
mounted on the ends of the horizontal stabilizer to get them out
of the turbulence behind the externally mounted Buran.
The An-225 dwarfs the Mil-17M
(Nato: Hip-H) below its wing.
The nose gear has been folded up to
the kneeling position and the ramp is extended..
Buran Analog was an aerodynamic test vehicle equipped with four jet engines, capable of taking off from a conventinal runay. It would climb to the test altitude, turn around, and glide back to land on the runway to simulate the operation of the Buran Orbiter.
Buran Analog at the Zhukovsky
Airshow in September 1993.
More pictures from Space Shuttle events.
You can buy a 2020 calendar featuring my photographs of the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
Three photos show the Antonov An-225 Mriya with the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran at the Paris Airshow in 1989. The other nine photos were taken at the Zhukovsky Aerodrome outside Moscow in 1993.
Put a copy of the Antonov An-225 Mriya 2020 calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $14.95.
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