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dbx999 t1_j4xge02 wrote

Reply to comment by MrZorg58 in Does anyone have information about Russian space SHUTTLES? just saw a post with a picture of it, didn’t know they existed! by freeastronaut2100

That is so fucking weird. I never knew this knockoff of the US shuttle could achieve take off like an airplane. I thought it was just designed for a controlled glide landing.

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mistrrhappy t1_j4xhxlc wrote

They took the overall design and made some real improvements. Better use of the space once the main engines were made unnecessary by Energia's immense capability.

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dbx999 t1_j4xi8p1 wrote

Why didn’t they use it in space?

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Express-Set-8843 t1_j4xivee wrote

Cost and timing. It was really expensive, funding disappeared, then so did the Soviet Union.

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mistrrhappy t1_j4xj828 wrote

They ran out of money, unfortunately. Energia and their shuttles, Buran and Pichka were very ambitious, and very expensive. The Buran was launched unmanned into space, and orbited the Earth twice, and made a fully automated landing. A successful first flight by any measure. Sadly, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the budgets for these programs weren't maintainable financially. The USSR had some very good aerospace engineers. It's a shame, really. You should read all the links others have posted on this thread.

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duckdodgers4 t1_j4xjgb3 wrote

Actually the so called knockoff came straight from the original NASA files that were in the National Library. Since NASA is a public domain organisation, the files were not flagged as confidential. Russians were able to take copies of those files pretty easily. When NASA found out what was going on they made slight changes to the original files, e.g. the tiles that protect the vehicle during re-entry were left with with the early versions. You can find more about this on the internet but here's a link https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18686550

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MrZorg58 t1_j4yeq5a wrote

Not an exact copy, there were several versions of the shuttle design, before the final was settled on. Burt Rutan was consulting with NASA then, and told them, this thing is going to get people killed.

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