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Buran could return 20 tons from orbit, [90] [91] vs the Space Shuttle's 15 tons. Buran included a drag chute, [92] the Space Shuttle originally did not, but was later retrofitted to include one. The lift-to-drag ratio of Buran is cited as 5.6, [93] compared to a subsonic L/D of 4.5 for the Space Shuttle. [94]
The Buran and Space Shuttle orbiters were exposed to similar temperatures, and both had similar levels of insulation. Compared to the Space Shuttle, Buran had a different tile layout on its underside, in which all gaps between heat tiles are parallel or perpendicular to the direction of airflow through the orbiter's lower surface.
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, [1] which were known as "Buran-class orbiters".
The space shuttle project was forged in the optimism of NASA’s Apollo program, which landed 12 astronauts on the surface of the moon and bested America’s Soviet rivals during the Cold War.
Although 2K was the closest to being completed of any of the Buran-class orbiters (after the orbiter Buran), it was never finished. The program was officially cancelled in 1993, at which point the shuttle was 95-97% complete. The proposed official name for 2K was Burya (Russian: Буря, "storm" or "tempest"). [1] [3]
The Space Shuttle orbiter is the ... Columbia was destroyed during re-entry, leaving just ... preceded only by the North American X-15 and followed by the Buran, ...
The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after lift-off on STS-51-L at an altitude of 15 kilometers (49,000 ft). The investigation found that cold weather conditions caused an O-ring seal to fail, allowing hot gases from the shuttle's solid rocket booster (SRB) to impinge on the external propellant tank and booster strut.
The term “space plane” often evokes NASA’s Space Shuttle, which flew 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, carrying astronauts into orbit and helping to construct the International Space Station.