The Buran

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Amazing pics - astounding they are still there just waiting.

But the really striking thing is the extreme likeness of the Space Shuttle.
Not just inspired-by. Not just built-around-the-same-principles.
But almost ... surely they cannot have ... copied the design??
Nooo. Not the Buran.
Certainly didn't do it with the TU-144, so the similarity must be pure co-incidence...

Go figure.
 

2cvbloke

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Yep, another example of the soviet copying of "capitalist pig" hardware, shame that the craft got left there to rot after the fall of the iron curtain as it looked like a worthy companion to a united earth space program, but considering how much money it took to keep NASA's shuttles on the go, russia just couldn't afford it...
 

Channel Hopper

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French documentary programme

 

Channel Hopper

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Amazing pics - astounding they are still there just waiting.

But the really striking thing is the extreme likeness of the Space Shuttle.
Not just inspired-by. Not just built-around-the-same-principles.
But almost ... surely they cannot have ... copied the design??
Nooo. Not the Buran.
Certainly didn't do it with the TU-144, so the similarity must be pure co-incidence...

Go figure.

Soviet engineers were initially reluctant to design a spacecraft that looked superficially identical to the Shuttle, but subsequent wind tunnel testing showed that NASA's design was already ideal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme
 
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