Posts Tagged ‘manned’
Buran – Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2006
Soviet copy of the US Space Shuttle. Unlike the Shuttle, the main engines were not mounted on Buran and were not reused. Representing a huge leap in Soviet space technology and project management – it involved the work of 1206 subcontractors and 100 government ministries. Buran flew only once in 1988. The cost of Buran – 14.5 billion rubles, a significant part of the effort to maintain strategic and technical parity with the United States – contributed to the collapse of the Soviet system and the demise of the spacecraft.
1988 November 15. Unmanned test of Soviet shuttle. Landed November 15, 1988 06:25 GMT. Buran was first moved to the launch pad on 23 October 1988. The launch commission met on 26 October 1988 and set 29 October 06:23 Moscow time for the first flight of the first Buran orbiter (Flight 1K1). 51 seconds before the launch, when control of the countdown switched to automated systems, a software problem led the computer program to abort the lift-off. The problem was found to be due to late separation of a gyro update umbilical. The software problem was rectified and the next attempt was set for 15 November at 06:00 (03:00 GMT). Came the morning, the weather was snow flurries with 20 m/s winds. Launch abort criteria were 15 m/s. The launch director decided to press ahead anyway. After 12 years of development everything went perfectly. Buran, with a mass of 79.4 tonnes, separated from the Block Ts core and entered a temporary orbit with a perigee of -11.2 km and apogee of 154.2 km. At apogee Burn executed a 66.6 m/s manoeuvre and entered a 251 km x 263 km orbit of the earth. In the payload bay was the 7150 kg module 37KB s/n 37071. The 37KB modules, similar to the Kvant module of the Mir space station, were to be standard on the early Buran flights. 140 minutes into the flight retrofire was accomplished with a total delta-v of 175 m/s. 206 minutes after launch, accompanied by Igor Volk in a MiG-25 chase plane, Buran touched down at 260 km/hr in a 17 m/s crosswind at the Jubilee runway, with a 1620 m landing rollout. The completely automatic launch, orbital manoeuvre, deorbit, and precision landing of an airliner-sized spaceplane on its very first flight was an unprecedented accomplishment of which the Soviets were justifiably proud. It completely vindicated the years of exhaustive ground and flight test that had debugged the systems before they flew.
But this triumph was also the last hurrah. Buran would never fly again. The Soviet Union was crumbling, and the ambitious plans to use Buran to build an orbiting defense shield, to renew the ozone layer, dispose of nuclear waste, illuminate polar cities, colonize the moon and Mars, were not to be. Although never officially cancelled, funding dried up and completely disappeared from the government’s budget after 1993.
Originally three flight orbiters were to be built, but this was increased to 5 in 1983. Structurally the first three orbiters were essentially completed, while the extra two remained unbuilt except for the engine units The final Buran test flight plan at the beginning of 1989 was as follows:
Flight 2 (2K1) – fourth quarter 1991 – first flight of second orbiter, one to two days unmanned, with 37KB s/n 37071.
Flight 3 (2K2) – first or second quarter 1992 – second orbiter, seven to eight day unmanned flight with payload 37KB s/n 37271. The orbiter would open the payload bay doors, operate the manipulator arm, dock with Mir, and return to earth.
Flight 4 (1K2) – 1993 – unmanned, second flight of first orbiter, 15-20 days with 37KB s/n 37270
Flight 5 (3K1) – 1994 or 1995 – first flight of third orbiter. First manned flight; the third orbiter was the first outfitted with life support systems and ejection seats. Two cosmonauts would deliver the 37KBI module to Mir, using the Buran manipulator arm to dock it to the station’s Kristal module.
Duration : 0:2:38