The Buran programme was an attempt by the Soviet Union to construct an orbital spaceplane to perform similar functions to the Space Shuttle. Similar to the Space Shuttle programme, an aerodynamic prototype and a number of operational spacecraft were planned for the Buran programme, which were known as "Buran-class orbiters".
Test flights
The aerodynamic testbed OK-GLI was constructed in 1984 to test the in-flight properties of the Buran design. Unlike the American prototype Enterprise, OK-GLI had four AL-31 turbofan engines fitted, meaning it was able to fly under its own power.
The list does not include taxi tests without takeoffs. All of these missions were landed at the Gromov Flight Research Institute test base.
No Flight date Crew Duration Notes Sources 110 November 1985Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 12mFirst flight of OK-GLI 23 January 198600d 00h 36m 327 May 198600d 00h 23m 411 June 198600d 00h 22mSemi-automatic gliding 520 June 1986Anatoli Levchenko Alexandr Shchukin00d 00h 25mSemi-automatic gliding 628 June 198600d 00h 23m 710 December 1986Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 24mAutomated control turned off before touchdown Considered the first automatic landing 823 December 198600d 00h 17mAutomatic landing 929 December 1986Anatoli Levchenko Alexandr Shchukin00d 00h 17m 1016 February 1987Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 28mOfficially the first fully automatic landing 1121 May 1987Anatoli Levchenko Alexander Shchukin00d 00h 20mAutomatic landing 1225 June 1987Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 19m 135 October 1987Alexander Shchukin Igor Volk00d 00h 21m 1415 October 1987Ivan Bachurin Alexei Borodai00d 00h 19m 1516 January 1988Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 22m 1624 January 198800d 00h 11m 1723 February 1988 Ivan Bachurin Alexei Borodai00d 00h 22m First flight of extended test program. Automatic landing 184 March 1988Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 32mAutomatic landing 1912 March 1988 Ivan Bachurin Alexei Borodai00d 00h 20m 2023 March 198800d 00h 43m 2128 March 198800d 00h 19m 222 April 1988Rimantas Stankevičius Alexander Schukin00d 00h 20m 238 April 198800d 00h 21m 2415 April 1988Rimantas Stankevičius Igor Volk00d 00h 19m Automatic landing Last flight of OK-GLI
Launches and orbital flights The first operational orbiter, Buran flew one test mission, designated 1K1, on November 15, 1988 at 6:00:00 Moscow time. The spacecraft was launched uncrewed from and landed at Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh S.S.R. and flew two orbits, traveling in 3 hours, 25 minutes (0.14 flight days). Buran never flew again; the program was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2002, the Buran orbiter was destroyed by the collapse of the hangar in which it was stored.
NoLaunch dateMission Shuttle Crew Duration Landing site Notes Sources 1 03:00:01 UTC06:00:01 MSK1K1Buran000d 3h 25mBaikonurOnly flight of Buran Only uncrewed flight of Space Shuttle type vehicle
Cancelled missions Planned in 1989 NoLaunch dateMission Shuttle Crew Duration Landing site Mission details 2Q4 19912K11.02None2dBaikonurFirst flight of 1.02 3Q1-Q2 19922K27-8dMir docking 419931K2Buran15-20d 519943K12.01Igor Volk Aleksandr Ivanchenkov1dFirst crewed flightFirst flight of 2.01 6two cosmonautsSecond crewed flight 7Third crewed flight 81995Fourth crewed flight 9Fifth crewed flightLast planned orbital test flight
Planned in 1991
Due to shortening of the program and delays in second flight preparations, mission plan for second orbiter included almost all significant test tasks. automatic docking with Mir's Kristall module crew transfer from Mir to the shuttle, with testing of some of its systems in the course of twenty-four hours, including the remote manipulator undocking and autonomous flight in orbit docking of the crewed Soyuz-TM №101 with the shuttle crew transfer from the Soyuz to the shuttle and onboard work over the course of twenty-four hours automatic undocking and landing
NoLaunch DateMission Shuttle Crew Duration Landing Site Mission details 219922K11.02None7-8dMir docking
See also List of Space Shuttle missions
References
Bibliography