The Suspicious Soviet Space Shuttle

In the mid 1970’s, the Soviet Union felt threatened after hearing that the Americans were working on a winged space vehicle. Although the US and the Soviet Union had periods of healthy cooperation in the past, they also had a history of intense competition when it came to space. The Soviets held the record for launching the first satellite into orbit, but America managed to beat them to the Moon. This video looks at how the Soviets managed to get their hands on important Shuttle documents in order to create an even more advanced version of the Space Shuttle called the Buran.

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References:

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Music used in this video:

» Infinite Perspective - Kevin MacLeod
» From Russia With Love - Huma Huma
» Soviet March - Shane Ivers
» Cloud Wheels Castle Builder - Puddle of Infinity
» Back To Vik - Text Me Records

Credits:

Narrated by: Beau Stucki

#SovietUnion #SpaceShuttle #Buran

[sebastiaomendonca]

The Buran did make history despite its sadly short lifetime. It became the first ever spaceplane to ascend to orbit and land back on Earth fully autonomously

[rosalindshays]

This was a nice intro into how the Buran was created, but more was needed about Buran's first (and only) actual space flight in November of 1988.

[elingeniero]

2:00 Factual error: There were no private institutions in the communist system. The OKB were state owned bureaus supervised by the military and political managers.

[luschmiedt]

There is also a Prototype of the Buran shuttle in a German Museum in Speyer one can visit. It was used to test atmospheric flight similar to Enterprise. (If you want to see a Buran without breaking into a facility in the middle of nowhere)

[daniels]

The real value was in the Energia launcher that carried Buran into orbit. Unlike the space shuttles' SRBs and fuel tank, it had been part of a parallel project to develop a heavy-lift rocket for the USSR. Meaning that it could potentially have been used without a shuttle attached to it, carrying heavy payloads into orbit or into translunar injection. Had the USSR not plunged into economic collapse, they would have been ahead of the U.S. in launch capability, as by that point we no longer had a true heavy-lift rocket ever since the Saturn V was discontinued.

[yashizuko]

Finally a buran video! There is something soo fascinating in the soviet version of the shuttle! "Autolanding" in the 80s! Just wow

[TheANDREW]

The bit about the wind tunnel research and the the Buran's very similar appearance to the space shuttle was especially fascinating!

[rays]

During the entry, descent and landing (EDL) on that first Buran flight, the unfilled gaps between the heat shield tiles tripped the boundary layer and resulted in local and downstream turbulent flow and consequent tremendous overheating. This melted the edges of the tiles and melted the aluminum skin of that orbiter in the tile gap area.

Side note: During a trip to Moscow in Nov 1992, I was able to see a full-size Buran test article that was on display in Gorki Park. The Russian engineer accompanying me remarked that the vehicle on that first Buran flight would require a lot of repairs before flying again.

[thepigwillfly]

I saw a Buran on display at VDNH park in Moscow in 2019. I think it may have been an early prototype that never actually flew.

[gregwilliamson]

I saw one of the Busan prototypes when it was brought to Sydney, Australia in 2000. I took one of my sons to see it, but he was too young to fully appreciate it. But, he wasn't alone, as it was taken away less than a year later due to a "lack of interest"! ☹️

[mariusbaronquandel]

In Germany we still have the Buran in the Space and Flightmuseum in Speyer.

[CinemaDemocratica]

This video is a great example of what happens when you take the editorial gatekeepers out of the creative-content chain and let people vanity publish whatever the heck they think they have to say. The truth about the Buran / Shuttle similarity is that the Space Shuttle was *never* classified. NASA Director Alan Lovelace once said in an interview, "To my knowledge the Soviets never actually wrote to us and asked for the technical drawings -- but if they had, we would have happily sent them over. There was nothing secret about the development of the Space Transportation System."

[PoltanovDmitriy]

1:06 You forget :
First Man on Orbit in 12.04.61,
First Manned Space Walk in 18.03.65,
First Woman Cosmonaut in 16.06.63.
...

[putt]

The number one reason the Buran was better than the Space Shuttle was the fact that the main engines were not located on the Shuttle itself but on a separate booster as it is not needed in orbit. This allowed for more cargo space, weight, turnaround time and reduces main engine damage from space. It also allowed engineers to work on the main engines while the spacecraft was in orbit.

[userman]

imagine hypothetical universe where two nations USSR and USA works together on something like that. Or lack of competition makes the space race very slow?

[putlerkaput]

2:15 There was hardly anything private in the soviet union above the bootblack level, let alone the design bureau capable of creating or even copycatting a space vehicle.

[DarthVader-igci]

The true lose was the Energia rocket. Imagine if this monster was not scrapped. A super heavy lift rocket that could be used till now...

[davidchristensen]

No one can argue if The Buran was better or worse the the nasa shuttle. You can’t argue the point. 1 flight up and down doesn’t create a record of success. As much as I would have liked to see the Buron used and develop an operation record it is a failed craft. Failed because the country found it was not needed and ended the program. Regardless of what pressures caused Russia to stop makes no difference it never got to prove itself. 1 flight does not make a flight record. It is pointless to argue how good or how ban Buron was because it is no more canceled before it was even ready for service. Buron is just that a Buron an untested spacecraft.

[gnualmafuerte]

I can't believe I'm about to defend the soviets, but just in this case, it's deserved.

Did they steal a lot of information about the Shuttle? Yes. Could they have copied the design? Yes. Did they copy the design? Nope.

Most important elements of the Buran were *entirely* different from the Shuttle. Buran didn't have any engines, and launched on Energia, using a hydrogen stage and four liquid fuel boosters. The Shuttle, on the other hand, had its own engines, and use an external tank plus two solid fuel boosters. That is the most important part of the design, and it's radically different. The aerodynamic profile of the Buran and Shuttle were different enough that whatever info they stole on wind-tunnel testing was irrelevant, and they did a lot of wind-tunnel testing. There are still wooden prototypes of the Buran that were used for wind-tunnel testing. The Shuttle was tested by deploying it, unpowered, from a 747, while Buran had its own jet engines. They flew their prototype with jet engines *dozens of times*.

The Buran looked similar to the Shuttle for the same reason the A320 looks similar to the 737: Because they both work under the same laws of physics.

[michaelnguyen]

The Buran prototype equivalent to Shuttle Enterprise is resting at the Technical Museum in Speyer, Germany.