Buran (spacecraft)
| Буран | |
|---|---|
Buran on An-225 at the 1989 Paris Air Show | |
| Type | Buran-class orbiter |
| Construction number | 1.01 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Named after | Russian for "Snowstorm" or "Blizzard;" the Buran wind |
| Status | Destroyed 12 May 2002 |
| First flight | 15 November 1988 |
| No. of missions | 1 |
| Crew members | 0 |
| No. of orbits | 2 |
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Buran (Russian: Буран, IPA: [bʊˈran], lit. 'blizzard'; GRAU index serial number: 11F35 1K, construction number: 1.01) was the first spaceplane to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program. The Buran orbiters were similar in design to the U.S. Space Shuttle. Buran completed one uncrewed spaceflight in 1988, and was destroyed in 2002 due to the collapse of its storage hangar. The Buran-class orbiters used the expendable Energia rocket, a class of super heavy-lift launch vehicle. Besides describing the first operational Soviet/Russian shuttle orbiter, "Buran" was also the designation for the entire Soviet/Russian spaceplane project and its flight articles, which were known as "Buran-class orbiters".