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List of Buran missions

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{{Main|Buran programme|Buran (spacecraft)}}

File:Buran on An-225 (Le Bourget 1989) (cropped).JPEG spacecraft at an airshow in 1989]]

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,{{cite web|url=http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya5.htm |title=Buran Orbiter |publisher=Molniya Research & Industrial Corporation |access-date=3 October 2014}} which were known as "Buran-class orbiters".

Test flights

File:BTS-002 Orbiter.jpg at an airshow in 1997]]

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.{{cite web|url=http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/en/spaceshuttle-buran |title=Spaceshuttle BURAN |publisher=TECHNIK MUSEUM SPEYER |access-date=2 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006115142/http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/en/spaceshuttle-buran |archive-date= 6 October 2014 }}

The list does not include taxi tests without takeoffs.

All of these missions were landed at the Gromov Flight Research Institute test base.

{{sticky header}}

class="sortable wikitable sticky-header" style="font-size:95%;"
scope="col" width="60"|No

! Flight date

! Crew

! Duration

! class="unsortable" | Notes

! class="unsortable" | Sources

scope="row" | 1

|10 November 1985

|

|00d 00h 12m

|

  • First flight of OK-GLI

| {{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/burlogue.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020425123248/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/burlogue.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 25, 2002 |title=Buran Analogue |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica |access-date=3 October 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/buran_bts.html |title=BTS-002 / OK GLI |last=Zak |first=Anthony |publisher=Russian Space Web |date=16 November 2013 |access-date=2 October 2014}}

scope="row" | 2

|3 January 1986

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 36m

|

|

scope="row" | 3

|27 May 1986

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 23m

|

|

scope="row" | 4

|11 June 1986

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 22m

|

  • Semi-automatic gliding

|

scope="row" | 5

|20 June 1986

|

|00d 00h 25m

|

  • Semi-automatic gliding

|

scope="row" | 6

|28 June 1986

|

  • Anatoli Levchenko
  • Alexandr Shchukin

|00d 00h 23m

|

  • Semi-automatic gliding

|

scope="row" | 7

|10 December 1986

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 24m

|

  • Automated control turned off before touchdown
  • Considered the first automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 8

|23 December 1986

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 17m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 9

|29 December 1986

|

  • Anatoli Levchenko
  • Alexandr Shchukin

|00d 00h 17m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 10

|16 February 1987

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 28m

|

  • Officially the first fully automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 11

|21 May 1987

|

  • Anatoli Levchenko
  • Alexander Shchukin

|00d 00h 20m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 12

|25 June 1987

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 19m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 13

|5 October 1987

|

  • Alexander Shchukin
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 21m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 14

|15 October 1987

|

|00d 00h 19m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 15

|16 January 1988

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 22m

|

  • Automatic landing

|{{cite web |url=http://www.buran.ru/htm/hrono.htm |title=OK-GLI chronology (in russian) |access-date=10 April 2020}}

scope="row" | 16

|24 January 1988

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 11m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 17

|23 February 1988

|

  • Ivan Bachurin
  • Alexei Borodai

|00d 00h 22m

|

  • First flight of extended test program.
  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 18

|4 March 1988

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 32m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 19

|12 March 1988

|

  • Ivan Bachurin
  • Alexei Borodai

|00d 00h 20m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 20

|23 March 1988

|

  • Ivan Bachurin
  • Alexei Borodai

|00d 00h 43m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 21

|28 March 1988

|

  • Ivan Bachurin
  • Alexei Borodai

|00d 00h 19m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 22

|2 April 1988

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Alexander Schukin

|00d 00h 20m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 23

|8 April 1988

|

  • Alexander Schukin
  • Rimantas Stankevičius

|00d 00h 21m

|

  • Automatic landing

|

scope="row" | 24

|15 April 1988

|

  • Rimantas Stankevičius
  • Igor Volk

|00d 00h 19m

|

  • Automatic landing
  • Last flight of OK-GLI

|

Launches and orbital flights

The first operational orbiter, Buran flew one test mission, designated 1K1, on November 15, 1988 at 6:00:00 Moscow time.{{cite book |title= Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle |first1=Bart |last1=Hendrickx |first2=Bert |last2=Vis |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn= 9780387739847 |page=349 |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7 }} The spacecraft was launched uncrewed from and landed at Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh S.S.R. and flew two orbits, traveling {{convert|83,707|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 3 hours, 25 minutes (0.14 flight days).{{cite book |title= Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle |first1=Bart |last1=Hendrickx |first2=Bert |last2=Vis |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn= 9780387739847 |page=356 |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7 }} Buran never flew again; the program was cancelled shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.{{cite book |title=The New Book of Popular Science |volume=1 |year=2008 |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=9780717212262 |page=257 }} In 2002, the Buran orbiter was destroyed by the collapse of the hangar in which it was stored.{{cite book |title= Energiya-Buran: the Soviet space shuttle |first1=Bart |last1=Hendrickx |first2=Bert |last2=Vis |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn= 9780387739847 |page=388 |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-73984-7 }}{{cite news | publisher=BBC | title=Russia's space dreams abandoned | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1985631.stm | work=bbc.co.uk | access-date=2007-11-14 | date=2002-05-13 | last=Whitehouse | first=David }}

{{-}}

class="sortable wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! scope="col" width="60"|No

! width="125"|Launch date

! width="60"|Mission

! Shuttle

! Crew

! Duration

! Landing site

! class="unsortable" | Notes

! Sources

scope="row" | 1

| {{sort|19820322|15 November 1988}}
03:00:01 UTC
06:00:01 MSK

|align=center|1K1

|Buran

|0

|00d 3h 25m

|Baikonur

|

  • Only flight of Buran
  • Only uncrewed flight of Space Shuttle type vehicle

|{{cite news | title = Soviet Space Shuttle Orbits and Returns In Unmanned Debut | author = Felicity Barringer | date = November 16, 1988 | work = The New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/16/us/soviet-space-shuttle-orbits-and-returns-in-unmanned-debut.html | access-date = 2013-11-23 }}{{cite news |title=Soviet shuttle |url=https://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=3SJB-3MT0-0012-20B6&csi=7945&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor |date=17 November 1988 |access-date=15 January 2013}}{{cite news |title=Russia starts ambitious super-heavy space rocket project |publisher=Space Daily |date=19 November 2013 |access-date=2 October 2014 |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russia_starts_ambitious_super_heavy_space_rocket_project_999.html}}

{{Cite web|url=http://www.buran.ru/htm/cikmain.htm|title=Циклограммы полета "Бурана" 15 ноября 1988 г.|website=www.buran.ru}}

Cancelled missions

=Planned in 1989=

class="sortable wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! scope="col" width="60"|No{{cite web |url=http://www.buran.ru/htm/pilots.htm |script-title=ru:Экипажи "Бурана": Несбывшиеся планы |trans-title=The Crews of "Buran": Unfulfilled Plans |work=Buran.ru |first=Vadim |last=Lukashevich |access-date=5 August 2006 |language=ru}}

! width="125"|Launch date

! width="60"|Mission

! Shuttle

! Crew

! Duration

! Landing site

! class="unsortable" | Mission details

scope="row" | 2

|Q4 1991

|align=center|2K1

|1.02

|None

|2d

|Baikonur

|

First flight of 1.02

scope="row" | 3

|Q1-Q2 1992

|align=center|2K2

|1.02

|None

|7-8d

|Baikonur

|

Mir docking

scope="row" | 4

|1993

|align=center|1K2

|Buran

|None

|15-20d

|Baikonur

|

scope="row" | 5

|1994

|align=center|3K1

|2.01

|

|1d

|Baikonur

|

First crewed flight

First flight of 2.01

scope="row" | 6

|1994

|

|

|two cosmonauts

|

|Baikonur

|Second crewed flight

scope="row" | 7

|1994

|

|

|two cosmonauts

|

|Baikonur

|Third crewed flight

scope="row" | 8

|1995

|

|

|two cosmonauts

|

|Baikonur

|Fourth crewed flight

scope="row" | 9

|1995

|

|

|two cosmonauts

|

|Baikonur

|Fifth crewed flight
Last planned orbital test flight

=Planned in 1991=

Due to shortening of the program and delays in second flight preparations, mission plan for second orbiter included almost all significant test tasks.

  • automatic docking with Mir's Kristall module
  • crew transfer from Mir to the shuttle, with testing of some of its systems in the course of twenty-four hours, including the remote manipulator
  • undocking and autonomous flight in orbit
  • docking of the crewed Soyuz-TM №101 with the shuttle
  • crew transfer from the Soyuz to the shuttle and onboard work over the course of twenty-four hours
  • automatic undocking and landing

class="sortable wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! scope="col" width="60"|No

! width="125"|Launch Date

! width="60"|Mission

! Shuttle

! Crew

! Duration

! Landing Site

! class="unsortable" | Mission details

scope="row" | 2

|1992

|align=center|2K1

|1.02

|None

|7-8d

|

|

Mir docking

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Space exploration lists and timelines |state=collapsed}}

{{Buran program|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buran missions}}

Missions

Category:Lists of space missions