Article

2005-09-22 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Senate Clears NASA to Buy Russian Spaceships

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Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-09-22 14:30|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 blech...

Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-09-22 15:16|| 2005-09-22 15:16|| Front Page Top

#2 A very sad day for the US space effort.

Posted by DanNY 2005-09-22 15:35|| 2005-09-22 15:35|| Front Page Top

#3 Legacy of putting all of our eggs in the Space Shuttle basket back in the 70s.

Posted by AzCat 2005-09-22 16:47|| 2005-09-22 16:47|| Front Page Top

#4 Why don't we just buy this from the Russians? From what I can gather they have a nearly complete one plus some spare parts. I bet the control systems are reeeaaal familiar too.

Posted by Secret Master 2005-09-22 17:11|| 2005-09-22 17:11|| Front Page Top

#5 Didn't the roof of its hanger collapse and wreck the thing? No more Buran.

American Atlas boosters now use Russian RD-180 engines.
A complete Soyuz is a logical next (temporary) step.

New US rockets are being developed so America is in no danger of losing its edge in space.

Posted by john 2005-09-22 19:07|| 2005-09-22 19:07|| Front Page Top

#6 Looked this up. There is indeed a nearly complete orbiter.

The Russian shuttle flew just once into space in 1988. It carried no human crew.
It was destroyed in a hanger collapse in 2002 along with the remaining Energia boosters.

The "Buran Analogue" - a non spaceworthy version with jet engines used for aerodynamic tests sits in a junkyard in Bahrain.

A number of non-flyable mockups remain. One is in Gorky park in Moscow. It was converted into an amusement park attraction.

4 more orbiters were constructed.
One was 95% completed and is stored in Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
One was 40% completed. It was sold to a museum in Germany.
One was 20% completed and was dismanted.
The last was started but subsequently dismanted.

Posted by john 2005-09-22 19:25|| 2005-09-22 19:25|| Front Page Top

#7 John: those new rockets are basically saturn-sized expendables made with the expensive and unreliable shuttle components (including the SRB's, which really ticks me off). IMHO it gives us the worst of both worlds.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-09-22 19:48|| 2005-09-22 19:48|| Front Page Top

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