The Shuttle Disaster You Never Heard About

You know about the Challenger, which disintegrated shortly after launch, killing seven astronauts. And you remember Columbia’s fatal flight in 2003. But what about the Shuttle disaster in 2002?

The shuttle that was destroyed was called Buran. Still unfamiliar?

One Successful Flight

Buran (a Russian word meaning “snowstorm”) was a Soviet space shuttle. The vehicle heavily “borrowed” from the design of the American shuttle. And, like its American counter-part, the vehicle was transported on the back of a giant airplane. In fact, the Soviet shuttle carrier, the An-225, is the largest aircraft ever built.

Buran made only one flight—a successful one—in 1988. Unlike the American shuttle, the Buran could (and did) fly without a crew. (Its primary purpose was, however, to put cosmonauts into orbit.) Its single flight performed 2 orbits of the earth, lasted 206 minutes, and made a pretty near perfect landing. But the Soviets cancelled the program and it never flew again.

More Dangerous in Retirement

Its safety record would have been perfect, except for a poorly maintained hangar that collapsed 24 years later. When the hangar in which the Buran was stored fell apart, eight workers were killed.

Fate of the Others

Only one Buran was operational, but other test vehicles were built. One can be seen currently at the Technikmuseum Speyer of Germany.