Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The birth of Buran

  • Chapter
Book cover Energiya—Buran

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books ((SPACEE))

  • 1190 Accesses

Abstract

Although there was significant spaceplane research in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, it was still dwarfed by the effort the country put into its mainstream manned space program, the one that was visible to the outside world. In terms of successes, there were two distinct periods in the Soviet piloted space program in the 1960s. The first part of the decade was marked by amazing triumphs that stunned the whole world. There was the pioneering flight of Yuriy Gagarin in 1961, the first flight into space by a woman (Vostok-6 in 1963), the first three-man flight (Voskhod in 1964), and the first spacewalk (Voskhod-2 in 1965). Then things started going downhill in spectacular fashion. First, there was the death in January 1966 of chief designer Sergey Korolyov, the mastermind behind the Soviet Union’s early space triumphs. After a two-year gap in piloted space missions, the maiden manned flight of the Soyuz capsule ended in disaster with the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov in April 1967.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. D. Jenkins, The History of the National Space Transportation System, Hinckley: Midland Publishing, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Y. Semyonov, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya Energiya imeni S.P. Korolyova 1946–1996, Moscow: RKK Energiya, 1996, pp. 278–279, 294–296.

    Google Scholar 

  3. B. Hendrickx interviews with VPK veteran Emil Popov, July 2005; V. Lukashevich, “A Soviet copy of the Shuttle: the orbital ship OS-120” (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 8/2006, pp. 64–67.

    Google Scholar 

  4. [4]Ts. Solovyov, Work in the USSR on reusable space transportation systems (1972–1975) (in Russian), paper presented at the Tsiolkovskiy readings in Kaluga, September 1992; V. Burdakov et al.: “Reusable space transportation systems: History and future prospects” (in Russian), paper presented at the International Symposium on the History of Aviation and Cosmonautics in Moscow, June 1995; V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Voyenno-kosmicheskiye sily, kniga 2, Moscow: Izdatelstvo Sankt-Peterburgskoy tipografii, 1998, pp. 54, 292.

    Google Scholar 

  5. A. Kuznetsov, Mnogorazovaya kosmicheskaya sistema Energiya-Buran, Moscow: OmV-Luch, 2004, p. 18; V. Lukashevich, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  6. B. Hendrickx correspondence with V. Lukashevich, 14 April 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., pp. 40–41.

    Google Scholar 

  8. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran (part 1)” (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 3/2006, pp. 56–58.

    Google Scholar 

  9. B. Chertok, Rakety i lyudi: lunnaya gonka, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1999, p. 473.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., pp. 281–286.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., p. 288; R. Sagdeyev, The Making of a Soviet Scientist, New York: Wiley, 1994, pp. 183–184.

    Google Scholar 

  12. G. Nazarov, “You cannot paper space with rubles” (in Russian), Molodaya Gvardiya, April 1990, pp. 192–207.

    Google Scholar 

  13. S. Aleksandrov, “Who needs it, this Buran?” (in Russian), Propeller /Apogey, June 1995, p. 1; Y. Mozzhorin, Tak eto bylo, Moscow: ZAO Mezhdunarodnaya programma obrazovaniya, 2000, pp. 340–341.

    Google Scholar 

  14. J. Harford, Korolev, New York: Wiley, 1997, p. 314.

    Google Scholar 

  15. B. Gubanov, Triumf i tragediya Energii (torn 3: Energiya-Buran), Nizhniy Novgorod: Izdatelstvo Nizhegorodskogo instituta ekonomicheskogo razvitiya, 1998, p. 33.

    Google Scholar 

  16. D. Jenkins, op. cit., p. 101; D. Payson, “The Buran decision” (in Russian), Rossiyskiy kosmos, 6/2006, pp. 40–43.

    Google Scholar 

  17. B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 33.

    Google Scholar 

  18. B. Hendrickx interviews with Emil Popov.

    Google Scholar 

  19. R. Sagdeyev, op. cit., p. 147.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ibid., p. 213.

    Google Scholar 

  21. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran (part 1)”, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  22. V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, op. cit., p. 55.

    Google Scholar 

  23. TV documentary “Udarnaya sila”, shown on the Russian ORT television channel, 20 March 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  24. R. Sagdeyev, op. cit., p. 213.

    Google Scholar 

  25. The text of the decree is almost completely reproduced in A. Kuznetsov, op. cit., pp. 6–10.

    Google Scholar 

  26. A. Bruk, Illyustrirovannaya entsiklopediya samolyotov EMZ im. V.M. Myasishcheva (torn 3, chast 1), Moscow: Aviko Press, 1999, p. 28.

    Google Scholar 

  27. B. Chertok, op. cit., p. 523.

    Google Scholar 

  28. R. Sagdeyev, op. cit., p. 184.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., p. 362.

    Google Scholar 

  30. V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Voyenno-kosmicheskiye sily, kniga 1, Moscow: Izdatelstvo Sankt-Peterburgskoy tipografii, 1997, p. 240.

    Google Scholar 

  31. A. Siddiqi, Challenge to Apollo, Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2000, p. 752; B. Katorgin, NPO Energomash imeni akademika V.P. Glushko. Put v raketnoy tekhnike, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye/Polyot, 2004, p. 427.

    Google Scholar 

  32. V. Rakhmanin, Odnazhdy i navsegda: kniga o Valentine Petroviche Glushko, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1998, p. 602; V. Trofimov, Osushchestvleniye mechty, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye/Polyot, 2001, p. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  33. V. Rakhmanin, Odnazhdy i navsegda: kniga o Valentine Petroviche Glushko, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1998, p. 602; V. Trofimov, Osushchestvleniye mechty, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye/Polyot, 2001 op. cit., p. 603; V. Trofimov, op. cit., p. 49.

    Google Scholar 

  34. V. Trofimov, op. cit., pp. 70–71.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  36. V. Gladkiy, “How the Energiya-Buran project was born” (in Russian), Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika, 1/2002.

    Google Scholar 

  37. B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 92; B. Katorgin, op. cit., pp. 202, 208, 428.

    Google Scholar 

  38. B. Chertok, op. cit., p. 476.

    Google Scholar 

  39. V. Filin, Put k Energii, Moscow: Logos, 2001, p. 39.

    Google Scholar 

  40. KB Khimavtomatiki, stranitsy istorii, torn 1, Voronezh: KBKhA, 1995, p. 125.

    Google Scholar 

  41. A. Siddiqi, op. cit., p. 649.

    Google Scholar 

  42. B. Katorgin, op. cit., p. 427.

    Google Scholar 

  43. V. Trofimov, op. cit., p. 140; S. Konyukhov, Prizvany vremenem: rakety i kosmicheskiye apparaty konstruktorskogo byuro Yuzhnoye, Dnepropetrovsk: Art Press, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  44. [44]KB Khimavtomatika, stranitsy istorii, op. cit., p. 72.

    Google Scholar 

  45. V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Voyenno-kosmicheskiye sily, kniga 1, op. cit., pp. 237–239; B. Gubanov, op. cit., pp. 55–56.

    Google Scholar 

  46. N. Anfimov, Generalnyy konstruktor: kniga o Vladimire Fyodoroviche Utkine, Korolyov: TsNIIMash, 2003, p. 47; V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Kosmonavtika i raketno-kosmicheskaya promyshlennost: razvitiye otrasli (1976–1992), Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 2003, p. 54; D. Vorontsov, “The compromise N-l” (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 1/2006, p. 69.

    Google Scholar 

  47. B. Gubanov, op. cit., pp. 55–59; S. Konyukhov, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  48. B. Chertok, op. cit., pp. 475–476.

    Google Scholar 

  49. G. Vetrov, “Development of Heavy Launch Vehicles in the USSR”, paper presented at the 10th International Symposium on the History of Astronautics and Aeronautics in Moscow, June 1995; V. Gladkiy, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  50. V. Gladkiy, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  51. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran” (part 1), op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  52. V. Gladkiy, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  53. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran” (part 1), op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  54. I. Afanasyev, “Unknown ships” (in Russian), Astronomiya, kosmonavtika (Znaniye), 12/1991, pp. 57–60; I. Afanasyev, “The reusable ship with vertical landing” (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 6/2004, pp. 71–72; V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran” (part 2) (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 4/2006, pp. 58–62; V. Lukashevich, “The history of the reusable orbital ship Buran” (in Russian), on-line at www.buran.ru

    Google Scholar 

  55. B. Gubanov, op. cit., pp. 38–39; V. Lukashevich, “A Soviet copy of the shuttle: The orbital ship OS-120”, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  56. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran” (part 1), op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  57. V. Gladkiy, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  58. V. Lukashevich, “The OK-92 that became Buran” (part 2), op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  59. KB Khimavtomatiki, stranitsy istorii, op. cit., pp. 72, 125; B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 39.

    Google Scholar 

  60. V. Kazmin, “The quiet tragedy of EPOS” (in Russian), Krylya rodiny, January 1991, pp. 4–5.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Interview with G. Lozino-Lozinskiy on the www.buran.ru website.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., p. 380; V. Gladkiy, op. cit.; A. Brak, op. cit., pp. 28–30, 209.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Y. Trufakin, Orbitalnyy korabl Buran i proyektno-nauchnyy otdel “Dinamika polyota” v NPO Molniya, 2002, p. 10.

    Google Scholar 

  64. B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 58.

    Google Scholar 

  65. S. Konyukhov, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  66. V. Gladkiy, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  67. V. Rakhmanin, Odnazhdy i navsegda: kniga o Valentine Petroviche Glushko, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1998, p. 602; V. Trofimov, Osushchestvleniye mechty, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye/Polyot, 2001 op. cit., p. 603; V. Trofimov, op. cit., pp. 610–615; B. Katorgin, op. cit., p. 126.

    Google Scholar 

  68. V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Voyenno-kosmicheskiye sily, kniga 2, op. cit., pp. 55–56; B. Gubanov, op. cit., pp. 40–41.

    Google Scholar 

  69. S. Aleksandrov, op. cit.; Y. Mozzhorin, op. cit., pp. 342–343.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., pp. 362–363; B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 43.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Y. Semyonov, op. cit., p. 363; V. Favorskiy, I. Meshcheryakov, Voyenno-kosmicheskiye sily, kniga 2, op. cit., pp. 57; B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  72. V. Filin on website www.buran.ru

    Google Scholar 

  73. V. Bugrov, “15th anniversary of Buran’s flight” (in Russian), Novosti kosmonavtiki, 1/2004, pp. 70–72.

    Google Scholar 

  74. V. Gudilin, “Take-off and landing of Buran” (in Russian), on-line at www.buran.ru/htm/ gudilin.htm

    Google Scholar 

  75. B. Gubanov, op. cit., pp. 41–42.

    Google Scholar 

  76. B. Gubanov, op. cit., p. 297.

    Google Scholar 

  77. A. Yuskovets, “On the launch pad: A conversation with Yuriy Pavlovich Semyonov” (in Russian), Leninskoye znamya, 16 February 1989.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Praxies Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

(2007). The birth of Buran. In: Energiya—Buran. Springer Praxis Books. Praxis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7_2

  • Publisher Name: Praxis

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-69848-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-73984-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation