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 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. [2]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 November 1985 | 00d 00h 12m |
| [3] [4] | |
| 2 | 3 January 1986 |
| 00d 00h 36m | [3] | |
| 3 | 27 May 1986 |
| 00d 00h 23m | [3] | |
| 4 | 11 June 1986 |
| 00d 00h 22m |
| [3] |
| 5 | 20 June 1986 | 00d 00h 25m |
| [3] | |
| 6 | 28 June 1986 |
| 00d 00h 23m |
| [3] |
| 7 | 10 December 1986 |
| 00d 00h 24m |
| [3] [4] |
| 8 | 23 December 1986 |
| 00d 00h 17m |
| [3] |
| 9 | 29 December 1986 |
| 00d 00h 17m |
| [3] |
| 10 | 16 February 1987 |
| 00d 00h 28m |
| [3] [4] |
| 11 | 21 May 1987 |
| 00d 00h 20m |
| [3] |
| 12 | 25 June 1987 |
| 00d 00h 19m |
| [3] |
| 13 | 5 October 1987 |
| 00d 00h 21m |
| [3] |
| 14 | 15 October 1987 | 00d 00h 19m |
| [3] | |
| 15 | 16 January 1988 |
| 00d 00h 22m |
| [3] [5] |
| 16 | 24 January 1988 |
| 00d 00h 11m |
| [3] |
| 17 | 23 February 1988 |
| 00d 00h 22m |
| [3] |
| 18 | 4 March 1988 |
| 00d 00h 32m |
| [3] |
| 19 | 12 March 1988 |
| 00d 00h 20m |
| [3] [5] |
| 20 | 23 March 1988 |
| 00d 00h 43m |
| [3] [5] |
| 21 | 28 March 1988 |
| 00d 00h 19m |
| [3] [5] |
| 22 | 2 April 1988 |
| 00d 00h 20m |
| [3] |
| 23 | 8 April 1988 |
| 00d 00h 21m |
| [3] |
| 24 | 15 April 1988 |
| 00d 00h 19m |
| [3] |
The first operational orbiter, Buran flew one test mission, designated 1K1, on November 15, 1988 at 6:00:00 Moscow time. [6] The spacecraft was launched uncrewed from and landed at Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh S.S.R. and flew two orbits, traveling 83,707 km (52,013 mi) in 3 hours, 25 minutes (0.14 flight days). [7] Buran never flew again; the program was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. [8] In 2002, the Buran orbiter was destroyed by the collapse of the hangar in which it was stored. [9] [10]
| No | Launch date | Mission | Shuttle | Crew | Duration | Landing site | Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 November 1988 03:00:01 UTC 06:00:01 MSK | 1K1 | Buran | 0 | 00d 3h 25m | Baikonur |
| [11] [12] [13] |
| No | Launch date | Mission | Shuttle | Crew | Duration | Landing site | Mission details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Q4 1991 | 2K1 | 1.02 | None | 2d | Baikonur | First flight of 1.02 |
| 3 | Q1-Q2 1992 | 2K2 | 1.02 | None | 7-8d | Baikonur | Mir docking |
| 4 | 1993 | 1K2 | Buran | None | 15-20d | Baikonur | |
| 5 | 1994 | 3K1 | 2.01 | 1d | Baikonur | First crewed flight | |
| 6 | 1994 | two cosmonauts | Baikonur | Second crewed flight | |||
| 7 | 1994 | two cosmonauts | Baikonur | Third crewed flight | |||
| 8 | 1995 | two cosmonauts | Baikonur | Fourth crewed flight | |||
| 9 | 1995 | two cosmonauts | Baikonur | Fifth crewed flight Last planned orbital test flight |
Due to shortening of the program and delays in second flight preparations, mission plan for second orbiter included almost all significant test tasks.
| No | Launch Date | Mission | Shuttle | Crew | Duration | Landing Site | Mission details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1992 | 2K1 | 1.02 | None | 7-8d | Mir docking |
The Buran programme, also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter programme", was a Soviet and later Russian reusable spacecraft project that began in 1974 at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute in Moscow and was formally suspended in 1993. In addition to being the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian reusable spacecraft project, Buran was also the name given to orbiter 1K, which completed one uncrewed spaceflight in 1988 and was the only Soviet reusable spacecraft to be launched into space. The Buran-class orbiters used the expendable Energia rocket as a launch vehicle.
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Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko was a Soviet cosmonaut in the Buran programme.
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Oleg Grigoriyevich Kononenko was a member of Soviet cosmonaut group LII-1. He was born in the village of Samarskoye, in Rostov, Russia, then part of the Soviet Union. He graduated from Zhukovsky Air Force Institute in 1975. On July 12, 1977, he was selected for cosmonaut training as a pilot of the Buran space shuttle. He survived an aircraft ejection on the Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk on December 27, 1979. Kononenko was married three times and had four children. He was killed on September 8, 1980, in the crash of a Yakovlev Yak-38 VTOL fighter on takeoff from the Minsk in the South China Sea.
