Buran — the Soviet Shuttle ahead of its time

When the Soviet Union launched the Buran project, it wasn’t trying to catch up in space. It was preparing for a new level of strategic confrontation. The U.S. Space Shuttle was already flying — but its potential raised serious concerns: orbital maneuvers, military satellites, even the possibility of deploying weapons in space. The Soviet response had to be precise, autonomous — and, if needed, silent. This was the beginning of the most ambitious project in the history of Soviet spaceflight.

The Buran program brought together an enormous network of Soviet engineering expertise. More than 1,200 enterprises contributed to the work. Hundreds of institutes and around 1.5 million people were involved in total.

Key Figures Behind Buran:

• Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, Chief Designer at NPO Molniya — led the development of the shuttle itself
• Valentin Glushko, Head of NPO Energomash — responsible for designing the Energia launch vehicle
• Valentin Klimov — oversaw launch and fueling systems
• TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute) — conducted aerodynamic modeling and calculations
• LII (Flight Research Institute) — ran ground and flight testing
• NPO Energia, named after Korolev — the lead integrator and developer of flight control systems

The project was carried out under strict secrecy. Information was shared on a need-to-know basis, blueprints were hand-delivered, and major decisions were made behind closed doors. Deadlines were tight, and the budget was enormous — unofficial estimates exceed 16 billion rubles, equivalent to tens of billions of dollars today.

Despite their external similarity, Buran was significantly different from the American Space Shuttle. The key difference was the absence of main engines on board. Orbital insertion was carried out by the Energia launch vehicle — a unique system capable of launching any heavy payload.

The second major feature was fully automated flight and landing. No American shuttle was ever able to return to Earth without a crew. Buran accomplished this on its very first mission. This program became a mechanism for technological renewal across the country. Factories adopted new alloys, control systems, CAD-based design processes, and modern assembly techniques. It was an industrial breakthrough encoded in a space program.

When the Soviet Union made the decision to build Buran, the necessary tools simply didn’t exist. Rockets powerful enough to carry such a craft were still under development. A runway capable of receiving a returning orbiter existed only on paper. A vehicle that could go to space and fly again lived only in engineering sketches. Even the term “hypersonic aerodynamics” sounded more like theory than applied science.

Within twelve years, all of that became reality. The Buran program is a story of technology, of engineering culture, and of human persistence — of those who calculated, drafted, argued, and kept moving forward, with no way to turn back.

Some of these vehicles flew in the atmosphere, while others were used for ground and thermal testing. In fact, by the time the program was halted, two orbital shuttles were ready or nearly ready for flight. The rest remained incomplete or were turned into museum exhibits in the post-Soviet period.

Buran was assembled in Moscow — at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant and at NPO Molniya. However, testing, system verification, and pre-launch preparations were carried out across the entire country, and the program’s operational focus gradually shifted toward Baikonur.

A dedicated airfield, Yubileiny, was constructed to receive the returning orbiter. It featured a 4.5-kilometer-long concrete runway capable of handling the landing of a heavy spacecraft at speeds exceeding 300 km/h.

Next to it, engineers built the MZK hangar — the Assembly and Fueling Complex — with a height of 75 meters. Inside, the facility was equipped with cranes rated for loads of up to 400 tons, as well as systems for climate control, power supply, and pressurization. Buran 1.02 remains stored in this very hangar to this day.

Flight testing was conducted in parallel. Training missions took place aboard modified flying laboratories, including the reconfigured Tu-154 and the enormous An-225 Mriya cargo aircraft, built specifically to transport Buran.

Buran became known to the public as the shuttle that "landed by itself." But behind that simple phrase stood dozens of critical tasks — any one of which could have caused the mission to fail. The spacecraft had to:

• launch atop an external rocket;
• separate from it in orbit;
• stabilize itself in space;
• endure high g-forces and temperature during atmospheric re-entry;
• descend into a glide path and land — without a crew, without a joystick, and without direct communication.

One mistake, and the shuttle would veer off course by dozens of kilometers or burn up. And all of this happened in an era when computer memory was measured in kilobytes and code was written on punch cards. There were no internet connections, no simulators, no 3D modeling. Computers filled entire cabinets — and Buran had to think, and act, on its own.

And there were real problems. During stand-based testing, engineers identified an error in the landing model: the shuttle missed the centerline of the runway due to an unaccounted-for crosswind. The system was revised. After wind tunnel testing, problems emerged with the heat shield tiles — dust would get between them, and some panels required reattachment. Even a slight misalignment could lead to overheating. That too was solved — engineers adjusted the geometry, reinforced the mounts, and introduced additional checks.

When we picture Buran, we often imagine its silhouette: a white fuselage, black wings, a short nose — almost like an airplane. But in reality, it was a flying machine built with a completely different purpose. It was neither a plane nor a rocket. It was a spacecraft designed to function in an environment with no air, no pressure, and no shadows.

Buran had several key compartments:

Inside the fuselage, Buran housed a number of critical systems: water and oxygen tanks, liquid cooling systems for onboard electronics, a closed-loop air regeneration system, automatic pumps, fans, gyroscopes, and stabilizers. Backup batteries were installed to keep systems running even in the event of partial power failure. The cabin was fully sealed and pressurized. In case of depressurization, individual breathing systems were available for the crew.

In orbit, temperatures can range from –150 °C in shadow to +120 °C in sunlight. Upon reentry, the shuttle’s surface heats up to 1600 °C. To prevent it from burning up, Buran was covered with thermal protection tiles. There were over 38,000 of them, each uniquely shaped to fit a specific part of the hull.
The tile materials depended on the heat zone:

• carbon-carbon (carbon fiber) — used in the hottest areas, such as the nose and wing edges, capable of withstanding up to 1650 °C;
• quartz fibers (KTU-1, KTU-2) — used in medium-temperature zones;
• ceramic — used in areas with moderate thermal loads;
• metallic panels — applied in the rear fuselage, particularly around engine exhausts.

The primary goal was to prevent the hull and internal compartments from heating above 70–90 °C.
The materials were lightweight, fire-resistant, and had low thermal conductivity.

Tile attachment was adhesive-based, without rigid mounts. This reduced weight but made installation more complex: losing a single tile could result in catastrophe — as tragically occurred later with the Space Shuttle Columbia. After every ground test, engineers inspected the tiles, renumbered them, and replaced any damaged pieces manually.
According to project engineers, each tile cost between 500 and 3000 rubles in the late 1980s — the equivalent of roughly $300–2000 today. Covering a single shuttle with tiles cost several million dollars, not including installation and quality control.

In addition to thermal protection, Buran was also shielded from radiation. The spacecraft featured:

• a multilayer thermal insulation system and aluminum screens in the body,
• reinforced airlocks and protective modules in the crew cabin,
• and outer elements made from high-reflectivity materials.

This didn’t make Buran completely radiation-proof, but it allowed the shuttle to remain in orbit for 5–7 days without experiencing critical radiation exposure.

On November 15, 1988, at 06:00 from Launch Site 110 at Baikonur, the Energia launch vehicle lifted off. On board was Buran 1.01 — the first orbital spacecraft to complete its mission fully autonomously, with no crew. The flight was controlled entirely by onboard systems.

Over the preceding 24 hours, engineers tested every circuit — from pressure to gyroscopes. Cabin temperatures dropped to –23 °C. All previous Energia launches had been with mockups. This time, a real shuttle was going into space.

At a speed of 28,000 km/h, Buran began deceleration and atmospheric reentry. The surface heated up to 1600 °C. The shuttle stabilized and entered a glide path — like a glider, but without a pilot. Every turn, every descent angle, every flap adjustment and braking maneuver was handled by the onboard systems.

At 09:25, the shuttle touched down on the Yubileiny airfield runway. Landing speed was 260 km/h. The rollout distance was 1.6 kilometers. Deviation from the centerline: just 1.5 meters. The drag parachutes deployed, and all systems were shut down. Exactly according to plan.

This launch proved that Buran could fly — and that it worked. It was a real orbital system, brought to full operational capability.
It surpassed the American Space Shuttle in terms of autonomy and became the first orbital spacecraft in history to complete a fully uncrewed flight and land on a runway.

But it was also the first and only flight. The program did not continue. Factories shifted to other tasks. Documents were archived. The vehicles — left in storage. The technological potential remained, but time had moved on.

When Buran 1.01 completed its successful flight, the team was confident — there would be a second launch, a third, a full operational series. The shuttle had performed flawlessly: launch, orbit, landing — all without a single person on board. New systems were already being installed on the next vehicle, 1.02. The program was entering a phase of regular deployment.

But at the same time, cracks were forming along another line — political and economic. The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse. The country could still launch satellites, but it could no longer sustain an expensive, complex, multi-tiered program with thousands of interdependent participants.

The official budget for Buran up to 1989 was estimated at 16–20 billion rubles. Adjusted for today’s values, that amounts to tens of billions of dollars. The funds went to the shuttles, launch sites, the MZK hangar, Mission Control, the Yubileiny airfield, laboratories, and test centers.

As funding was cut, the supply chains began to break down: a component manufacturer in one city, the receiver in another, and the designer in a third. These cities were now in different republics — and soon, in different countries.

The program was suspended in 1990. On May 25, 1993, the Council of Chief Designers at NPO Energia made the decision to formally shut it down. However, no official government order or decree was ever issued. The project dissolved quietly, without announcement. The factories shut down, the blueprints stayed in drawers, the people moved on. And so ended one of the most ambitious engineering endeavors in the country’s history.

The second shuttle, Buran 1.02, never made it to launch. Its story continued down a different path. Today, it remains inside the MZK hangar, on the very same platform where it was once prepared for flight. We cover its history in detail in the article: Buran 1.02 in the MZK Hangar: The Soviet Shuttle That Never Flew.

Much of what was developed under the Buran program survived in its own way. Some ideas were ahead of their time — and eventually returned, under different names and in different projects.

The fact that Buran landed on its own is no longer unique. Today, private companies are testing autonomous reentry vehicles and reusable stages. Back then, a government project achieved it — without 3D modeling or the internet.

Advancements in thermal protection, composite materials, and distributed life support architecture became the foundation of new Russian systems. Many of the engineers who had worked on Buran later contributed to projects such as Soyuz-5, Krylo-SV, and even private aerospace efforts, where reusable solutions are once again in focus.

The concept of a universal heavy-lift rocket — first realized in Energia — is now being revisited in new forms, including through international cooperation.

Today, the MZK hangar at Baikonur is a historic site you can visit in person. As part of Photosafari Travel’s tours, you’ll see the Buran 1.02 orbiter — right there in the same hangar where it was originally assembled for flight:

Our guide will explain every stage of the shuttle’s development, walk you through the hangar, and answer any questions — from flight control systems to the fate of the engineers. This is more than a tour — it’s a personal encounter with a moment in time that never moved forward.

Misconceptions, little-known facts, and surprising details from the project. Here are five facts about the Buran program that weren’t included in the main text.