Did the Soviets actually build a better space shuttle?

At the outset of the Buran project in 1976, the Soviet leadership, indeed, gave its industry the task of developing a system with similar technical capabilities to the space shuttle. Many historians and engineers today say that by doing so, the Soviets actually built a better system than the U.S. did.

Did the Soviet Union have a space shuttle?

Besides describing the first operational Soviet/Russian shuttle orbiter, “Buran” was also the designation for the entire Soviet/Russian spaceplane project and its orbiters, which were known as “Buran-class orbiters”.

Why did the Soviets copy the space shuttle?

The Soviet Space Shuttle was made as a response to the American Space Shuttle. It was a response to a cold war threat and a perceived hazard that resulted in this strange case study – a reusable space plane that flew just once, carried no one and performed flawlessly – it’s certainly and interesting oddity.

Was the Buran better than the space shuttle?

The main advantage of Buran over STS is that is was made from start to be fully automated. So the computer can take decision more quickly than the crew in case of emergency to save the crew and the payload, by reducing thrust or even eject the shuttle (500 scenaries are stored in the computer).

Was Laika the dog a girl?

Training. Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists chose to use Moscow strays since they assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger. This specimen was a 5 kg (11 lb) mongrel female, approximately three years old.

Is Buran a copy of the space shuttle?

The design of the Buran (“blizzard” in Russian) was remarkably similar to that of the US shuttle. That’s no coincidence: “The Russians needed a vehicle of similar dimensions because they wanted to match the payload capacity of the space shuttle,” said Soviet space historian Bart Hendrickx in an email interview.

Could the space shuttle fly itself?

The U.S. shuttle could carry into space only what fit into its cargo bay, but the powerful Soviet rocket could haul most anything into space at much heavier payloads of over 100 tons. Instead, the Energia rocket shared the same fate as Buran itself, mothballed after the 1988 launch and never to fly again.

Where is the Soviet space shuttle?

As the Soviet Union eventually broke apart, the space program was suspended and eventually canceled. While one full-scale test model is currently housed in a museum at Baikonur and one was destroyed by a roof collapse, at least one more sits in storage at the disused hangar.

How many Russian space shuttles were built?

Six space shuttles were built, but only five ever flew in space. Enterprise: The first space shuttle never launched, but was used for atmospheric flight tests after being released from the back of a Boeing 747. It was not built for space flight.

Which was the best space shuttle?

Discovery, the veteran of the fleet, is NASA’s oldest and most traveled shuttle. After 27 years and 39 flights, Discovery has logged 365 days — a full year — in space, and journeyed 148,221,675 miles (238,539,663 km). Over its career, Discovery also made 5,830 orbits of the Earth.

What killed Laika?

overheating
Laika, a stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into low orbit on 3 November 1957. No capacity for her recovery and survival was planned, and she died of overheating or asphyxiation shortly before she was to be poisoned.

Where is Laika buried?

Laika

Birth	1954 Russia
Death	3 Nov 1957 (aged 2–3)
Burial	Hartsdale Pet Cemetery Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA
Memorial ID	184918989 · View Source

Could the USSR have built a better Space Shuttle?

On Nov. 15, 1988, the Buran reusable orbiter, the crowning achievement of the Soviet space program, made its first flight. It would prove to be the Buran’s last. But looking back 25 years later, some space experts say the USSR might have built a better shuttle,…

Why did the Soviet Union fail to respond to the shuttle?

The Soviet space strategists apparently hugely overestimated the military importance of the shuttle and felt that they had to respond with a similar system, as they normally would to any major weapon development in the U.S.

How many rockets did the Soviet Union use in the Challenger?

Instead of two relatively simple (but, as it turned out after the Challenger disaster, deadly unreliable) solid-rocket boosters, on the first stage, the Soviets employed four liquid-propellant rockets. Their legacy lives on today in the Russian–Ukrainian Zenit launcher.

Did NASA try to reverse-engineer the Energia Space Shuttle?

Ironically, afterward it became NASA’s turn to try to reverse-engineer a Soviet design, as U.S. engineers looked into an architecture similar to Energia’s but using the shuttle’s components. Unfortunately, the concept known as Shuttle-C never went beyond a full-scale mockup.