Abstract
When Buran swooped down to a safe landing on its Baykonur runway on 15 November 1988, it marked the culmination of more than just the 12 years needed to take it to the launch pad since its official approval by a Soviet government and Communist Party decree in February 1976. Even by the start of the Buran program the Soviet Union possessed a rich database on high-speed aeronautics, gradually accumulated through four decades of work on rocket-propelled aircraft, intercontinental cruise missiles and smaller spaceplanes.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
G. Vetrov, S.P. Korolyovi kosmonavtika: pervye shagi, Moscow: Nauka, 1994, pp. 56, 72.
N. Korolyova, Otets (kniga pervaya), Moscow: Nauka, 2001, p. 262.
N. Korolyova, op. cit., p. 293.
G. Vetrov, op. cit., pp. 110–111; N. Korolyova, op. cit., p. 316.
N. Korolyova, op. cit., p. 316.
G. Vetrov, op. cit., p. 111.
A. Nikolayev, “This is how liquid-fuel rocket engines and liquid-fueled rockets began” (in Russian), Dvigateli, 4/2004, pp. 44–47, 5/2004, pp. 26–30; M. Yeftivyev, Ognyonnye krylya: istoriya sozdaniya reaktivnoy aviatsii SSSR (1930–1946), Moscow: Veche, 2005, pp. 28–87; G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, S.P. Korolyov i ego delo, Moscow: Nauka, 1998, pp. 538, 540; A. Moskalyov, Golubaya spiral, Voronezh, 1999.
M. Yevtifyev, op. cit.; G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, op. cit., pp. 538–539.
M. Yevtifyev, op. cit.; on-line aviation encyclopedia Ugolok neba at http://www.airwar.ru/ The latter source claims there were an additional four flights in November–December 1949.
A. Siddiqi, Challenge to Apollo, Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2000, p. 53.
M. Yevstafyev, Dolgiy put k Bure, Moscow: Vuzovskaya kniga, 1999, pp. 34–41.
M. Yevstafyev, op. cit., pp. 45–82; A. Siddiqi, op. cit.; A. Bruk et al., Illyustrirovannaya entsiklopediya samolyotov OKB V.M. Myasishcheva (torn 2, chast 1), Moscow: Aviko Press, 2001, pp. 54–59, 93–116.
R. Houchin, “Why the Air Force Proposed the Dyna-Soar X-20 Program”, Quest, Winter 1994, pp. 4–12.
G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, op. cit., pp. 190–200.
Y. Semyonov (ed.), Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya Energiya 1946–1996, Moscow: RKK Energiya, 1996, p. 105. Winged spacecraft are known to have been studied at Department 9 by Konstantin S. Shustin, presumably in the 1957–1958 timeframe. His conclusion was also that the challenges posed by thermal protection were too daunting. See K. Feoktistov, Trayektoriya zhizni, Moscow: Vagrius, 2000, p. 47.
M. Keldysh (ed.), Tvorcheskoye naslediye akademika Sergeya Pavlovicha Korolyova, Moscow: Nauka, 1980, p. 406.
G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, op. cit., pp. 271–272.
Korolyov is known to have tasked TsAGI in September 1959 with studying various shapes for returnable spacecraft, including winged vehicles, but it is unclear if the PKA was part of those studies. See G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, op. cit., pp. 272–276.
V. Bobkov, “Little bast shoe in space” (in Russian), Krylya Rodiny, 11/1991, p. 25; I. Afanasyev, “Unknown ships” (in Russian), Kosmonavtika, astronomiya (Znaniye), 12/1991, pp. 5–7; M. Rebrov, “PKA or simply ‘little bast shoe’ ” (in Russian), Krasnaya Zvezda, 17 June 1995.
V. Petrakov, M. Chernyshov, “Unkown Buran” (in Russian), Sovetskaya Rossiya, 10 April 1991, p. 4; V. Petrakov, “Two Projects of V.M. Myasishchev”, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, September 1994, pp. 347–354; E. Kulaga “The mini-shuttle of V.M. Myasishchev” (in Russian), Tekhnika Vozdushnogo Flota, 5/1997; A. Bruk, op. cit., pp. 69–70, 74–76, 135–158. According to the latter source there was yet another spaceplane proposal called “Project 49”, but information on this is very sketchy.
V. Rigmant, “Under the signs ‘ANT’ and ‘Tu’” (in Russian), Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika, 11/1999; V. Rigmant, Samolyoty OKB A.N. Tupoleva, Moscow: Rusavia, 2001.
G. Vetrov, B. Raushenbakh, op. cit., pp. 298–300.
I. Afanasyev, “Kosmoplan” (in Russian), Krasnaya zvezda, 26 August 1995; A. Siddiqi, op. cit., pp. 230–232, 241, 305–312, 441–442; G. Yefremov (ed.), 60 let samootverzhennogo truda vo imya mira, Moscow: Oruzhiye i tekhnologii, 2004, pp. 97–100.
N. Kamanin, Skrytyy kosmos (kniga 1), Moscow: Infortekst, 1995, p. 87.
Y. Kazarov, “The child mortality of Buran” (in Russian), Nezavisimaya gazeta/Nauka, 13 November 2003. In 1960 Mikoyan had also been involved together with Korolyov and chief designer of anti-missile systems Grigoriy Kisunko in a proposal to develop an antisatellite system launched by an R-7 derived rocket. See G. Kisunko, Sekretnaya zona, Moscow: Sovremennik, 1996, p. 393.
A. Mikoyan, “Future of aerospace technologies” (in Russian), Krasnaya zvezda, 9 January 1962.
N. Kamanin, Skrytyy kosmos (kniga 4), Moscow: Novosti kosmonavtiki, 2001, pp. 144–145, 222–223, 240.
[28]TV documentary “Udarnaya sila”, shown on the Russian ORT television channel, 20 March 2007; B. Hendrickx correspondence with Vadim Lukashevich, 7 April 2007.
[29]A detailed history of the Spiral program can be found in a series of articles by V. Lukashevich, V. Trufakin, S. Mikoyan in the journal Aerokosmicheskoye obozreniye, 3/2005, 4/2005, 5/2005, 6/2005, 1/2006, 2/2006 and in Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika, 10/2006, 11/2006, 12/2006, 1/2007, 2/2007; An English summary can be found in: V. Lukashevich, “Predecessor of Shuttle and Buran: Spiral Orbital Aircraft Programme, Air Fleet, 4/2004.
S. Belotserkovskiy, Pervoprokhodtsy vselennoy, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1997, pp. 73–99.
J. Doran, P. Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuriy Gagarin, London: Bloomsbury, 1999, pp. 171–174.
S. Belotserkovskiy, Diplom Gagarina, Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1986.
S. Belotserkovskiy, Gibel Gagarina, Moscow: Mashinostroyeniye, 1992.
[34]TV documentary Udarnaya sila, op. cit.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Praxies Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(2007). The roots of Buran. In: Energiya—Buran. Springer Praxis Books. Praxis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7_1
Publisher Name: Praxis
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-69848-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-73984-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)