Unlike the Space Shuttle, Buran programme had a capability of flying uncrewed missions, as well as performing fully automated landings.
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10 Facts About Buran programme
2.
Buran programme program was started by the Soviet Union as a response to the United States Space Shuttle program.
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3.
Buran programme completed one uncrewed orbital spaceflight in 1988, after which it was recovered successfully.
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4.
Development of the Buran began in the early 1970s as a response to the U S Space Shuttle program.
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5.
In 1983 the Buran developers estimated that the software development would require several thousand programmers if done with their existing methodology, and they appealed to Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics for assistance.
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6.
Buran programme's mission is sometimes called Mir LII-1, after the Gromov Flight Research Institute shorthand.
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7.
Buran never flew again; the programme was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
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8.
Cost of a Buran programme launch carrying a 20 ton payload was estimated at 270 million roubles, vs 5.
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9.
In 2010 the director of Moscow's Central Machine Building Institute said the Buran programme would be reviewed in the hope of restarting a similar crewed spacecraft design, with rocket test launches as soon as 2015.
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10.
Buran programme debut followed that of Columbia, and because there were striking visual similarities between the two shuttle systems—a state of affairs which recalled the similarity between the Tupolev Tu-144 and Concorde supersonic airliners—many speculated that Cold War espionage played a role in the development of the Soviet shuttle.
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