What the Heck???

[urflyingme?!]

What is this??
Looks liek the shuttle, but look at the engines...
http://gallery.colofinder.net/aircraft/BURAN3

 

[furloughfodder]

welcome to russia.

 

[urflyingme?!]

I had the suspicion, but ot could have been the keystone, or the after glow
ahhh yes, teenageism

 

[ms6073]

That is an image of Buran, the former Soviet Unions last grand attempt to try to match/keep pace with the US space program! Buran was a huge leap in technologogical advancement for the Russians, and during its development, Buran was actually launched and flown autonomously without any crew and according to information from the link below:

Although the first orbital flight of Buran was unmanned, it demonstrated much promise. The autopilot that landed the shuttle was able to overcome a 34 mph crosswind to land within 5 feet of the runway center line. Also, of the 38,000 heat shield tiles that covered Buran, only 5 were missing.

After the first flight of Buran, funding for the project was cut. Although the project wasn't officially canceled until 1993, much of the work was halted long before that date. There were two other Buran shuttles under construction.

I think if you do a search at Airliners.net, you should be able to find some photos of Buran rotting in a field/museum in Russia somewhere!

Edit (add link): Nasa: Bruran


Michael

 

[Crizz]

Space-Shuttle-ski