Russian Shuttle - BURAN

[Superewza]

Yes, scrapping Buran was a horrible mistake. But that's not to pay any disrespect to Soyuz. By god could Korolev design a rocket.

[Hig]

was watching a prog only 2 or 3 nights ago on one of the discovery channels about the AN225...

its mental how that thing even gets off the ground on its own, nevermind with some of the massive cargo it can take inside as well like trains and tanks etc...

[alioneL]

That's really amazing.

[Macavity]

...its mental how that thing even gets off the ground on its own...

Sometimes it gets a bit close:

Love the laid-back, Aussie commentary though.

[dave1978]

I dont know what it is but all Russian aerospace designs look much better than other countries stuff. The Buran with its quad booster design just looks awesome, its the same with their jets, the MIG-29 and SU-27/30 series all look much more fearsome and aerodynamic than US jets.

[Pavel]

I think that aesthetic impression is result of conditional environment. "West" admired "eastern" achievements of technology and "East" admired "western" ones. In the time of Cold War I liked an American "toys" and friends from western part of world admired Russian (and other "reds") "scrap metal". May it`s natural resistance to native propaganda.

I.e.: 20 years ago nobody would to believe that Romania is capable of construct the supersonic plane; today`s planes makes an impression that we can to believe they will make something more "cosmic".

[Smeg]

I remember hearing about this a while ago, and it amazed me how similar the design was to the US version. Coincidence, or was it just a blatant copy?

Probably the Americans copied the Russians, after all the Americans stole all the British and French technologies too.

[Pavel]

23 years ago - 15 Nov. 1988 - first flight of Buran