Stunning images of abandoned Soviet space shuttles

Thanks to reddit, we discovered this amazing photo essay by Ralph Mirebs from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. A lot of Mirebs' photography has been documenting the industrial decline that followed the disintegration of the USSR at the end of the Cold War, and this most recent post starkly illustrates this via the fate of the Soviet shuttle program, Buran. We've included some of our favorites in the gallery above, but be sure to check Mirebs' post for the whole set.

Buran (Blizzard) was a reaction to NASA's Space Shuttle and closely resembled the American reusable orbiter, but without the latter's main engines (Buran was powered into orbit by the Energia heavy lift rocket). It only made a single (unmanned) space flight, in November 1988. Orbiter (OK)-1K1 Buran made two orbits before returning to earth (unlike the Space Shuttle, Buran was capable of autonomous flight from the outset). A lack of funds saw the program suspended shortly after its return to earth, and Boris Yeltsin cancelled it in 1993. It got worse from there; in 2002 an earthquake caused the roof of the MIK building in which OK-1K1 was being stored collapsed, destroying the orbiter and killing eight people.

Following that tragedy, the second orbiter, OK-1K2 (Ptichka, or Little Bird) was moved to the slightly smaller (but still huge) facility we see here. This building, known as MZK (Russian for Assembly and Fueling Complex, we think), was specially designed to contain the massive shockwave that would follow a catastrophic explosion during fueling, and prevent damage to other parts of the Baikonur complex. While that may seem like overkill, a failed launch of the USSR's N1 heavy lifter in 1969 was equivalent to almost 7kT, about half that of the Hiroshima bomb.

In addition to K2, the huge building also contains OK-MT, an earlier static test model used for testing and training. Mirebs vividly highlights a significant philosphical difference between USSR and US space programs. NASA built its rockets upright, you see. That's why Kennedy Space Center's defining landmark is the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB; a giant blocky structure taller than a Saturn V with an enormous American flag on the side. But from the days of Korolev on, the Soviets kept everything at ground level until they got to the launch pad. Launch systems were assembled horizontally and transported by train to the launch pad; only then would they be raised vertical.

Can you imagine, if at the end of the Shuttle program, NASA decided to lock the doors to the VAB (with Enterprise and Atlantis inside) and just walk away?