OK-GLI
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| Atmospheric Buran testbed, MACS, Zhukovski, 1999</center> | |
| <tr valign=top><td>Orbiter Vehicle Designation:</td><td>BST-02</td></tr><tr valign=top><td>Country:</td><td>Soviet Union</td></tr><tr valign=top><td>First flight:</td><td>Taxi test 1 |
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The OK-GLI (Buran Analog BST-02) was a test vehicle ("Buran aerodynamic analogue") in the Shuttle Buran program. It was constructed in 1984, and was used for 25 test flights between 1985 and 1988 before being retired. It currently resides in Bahrain.
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[edit] Construction
The development of the Buran began in the early 1970s as a response to the U.S. Space Shuttle program. The construction of the shuttles began in 1980, and by 1984 the first full-scale Buran was rolled out. The first suborbital test flight of a scale-model took place as early as July 1983. As the project progressed, five additional scale-model flights were performed.
The OK-GLI (Buran Analog BST-02) test vehicle ("Buran aerodynamic analogue") was constructed in 1984. It was fitted with four AL-31 jet engines mounted at the rear (the fuel tank for the engines occupied a quarter of the cargo bay). This Buran could take off under its own power for flight tests, in contrast to the American Enterprise test vehicle, which was entirely unpowered and relied on an air launch.
The jets were used to take off from a normal landing strip, and once it reached a designated point, the engines were cut and OK-GLI glided back to land. This provided invaluable information about the handling characteristics of the Buran design, and significantly differed from the carrier plane/air drop method used by the USA and the Enterprise test craft.
[edit] Test flights
Nine taxi tests and twenty-five test flights of OK-GLI were performed <ref name="test">Buran Energia Timeline History. Krzys Kotwicki. Retrieved on 2006-08-04.</ref>, after which the shuttle was "worn out". All tests and flights were carried out at Baikonur.
[edit] Present status
After the program was cancelled, OK-GLI was stored at Zhukovsky Air Base, near Moscow, and eventually bought by an Australian company, Buran Space Corporation. It was transported by ship to Sydney, Australia via Gothenburg, Sweden <ref name="transport">Transporting the Russian Space shuttle Buran. ProCargo. Retrieved on 2006-07-02.</ref> — arriving on February 9, 2000 — and appeared as a static tourist attraction under a large temporary structure in Darling Harbour for a few years. <ref name="australia">Buran Analogue/002 in Sydney. Retrieved on 2006-07-02.</ref> <ref name="australia_2">"Russian shuttle lands down under", collectSpace, 2000-02-10. Retrieved on 2006-07-02.</ref>
Visitors could walk around and inside the vehicle (a walkway was built along the cargo bay), and plans were in place for a tour of various cities in Australia and Asia. The owners, however, went into bankruptcy, and the vehicle was moved into the open air, where it suffered some deterioration and vandalism.
The OK-GLI test vehicle was then offered for sale, including by a radio auction on Los Angeles' News 980 KFWB-AM with a starting price of $6 million, <ref name="shuttle_sale_1">Banke, Jim (2002-05-09). Russian Shuttle Buran, Slightly Used, Goes Up for Auction Today. Space.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.</ref> however it did not receive any genuine bids. <ref name="shuttle_sale_2">Banke, Jim (2002-05-23). Auction Fails to Sell Buran, Russian Shuttle Remains Available. Space.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.</ref> In September 2004 a German team of journalists found the OK-GLI test shuttle near Bahrain. <ref name="shuttle_found">Kurioser Fund : Sowjet-Shuttle am Persischen Golf aufgetaucht (trans. "Strange find: Soviet shuttle found at Persian Gulf") (22 September 2004). Retrieved on 2006-08-05.</ref> It was then bought by the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, to be transported to Germany in 2005. <ref name="german_museum">Sinsheimer Museum kauft den Sowjet-Shuttle (trans. "Sinsheimer museum buys a Soviet shuttle") (23 September 2004). Retrieved on 2006-08-05.</ref> Due to legal issues, it still remains (as of June 2006) in Bahrain. [citation needed]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Satellite view of OK-GLI in Bahrain
- Buran Analog entry at Encyclopedia Astronautica
- Official website by the NPO "Molniya", makers of the Buran
- Energia - all about the HLLV. Includes information about the Buran.
| Space Shuttles | |||
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| Image:DiscoveryVABrollout.jpg | Image:Flag of the United States.svg US Space Shuttle program
| Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Buran program | |
