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Christophe · (This post was last modified: 09-04-2013, 01:06 PM by CtahhR.)

The way the bunker is built : with modules and structures similar to those used in the Moscow Metro.

Ch.

Pic : © Christophe – ChR Collection

Christophe · (This post was last modified: 02-05-2012, 08:50 AM by CtahhR.)

#1 Some launch pads.
#2 Proton launch area.
#3 Buran space shuttle.
#4 Flying above Kazakhstan and approaching Baikonur.
#6 Baikonur airport.
#7 Launch pads.
#8 Baikonur site map.
#9 Other launch facilities.
#10 Baikonur's historical centre.

Ch.

Pic : © Christophe – ChR Collection

Esteban_cool · 04-13-2009, 03:00 AM

I´ve seen it in ruins, in different locations, and now it lloks brand new. Just how many Burans are lying around the FSU? Or was it restored?

Christophe · (This post was last modified: 02-05-2012, 08:56 AM by CtahhR.)

Several Buran shuttles have been built.

You can find more details in this interesting site :

Buran Space Shuttle - Energia Rocket Launcher

The one I show is OK-M.
Here is what says this site :
"Built in Moscow in 1982 to make temperature and mechanics tests, it was then renamed in OK-ML-1 and was transported at Baïkonour by the VM-T plane to test the interface with Energia. Normally it would have been used for the first flight of Energia and destroyed during the re-entry in the atmosphere.

It resides now in the zone 2 near the Baïkonur's museum, after being parked for years not far from the 254 zone (MIK). It is visited by the children of the local schools. The leaders of Baïkonour want to make it a monument inside the city which seems to be impossible because the size of the shuttle prevents it from crossing a bridge on the Moscow-Tashkent line."

And this is what this website says about the one in Moscow, well know, as well...

"OK-TVA was used for the thermal, mechanical and acoustic tests. The thermal tests were led in a special room where 10 000 quartz lamps could vary the temperature from -150°C to +1 500°C and simulated the temperatures range which the shuttle go trough during its way from the ground to the space vacuum. The mechanical tests, took place in a room of 423 m2, consisted in loading the nose, the wings, the vertical stabilizer and the shield beam. The bench of test could apply 8 000 kN horizontally and 2 000 kN vertically and thus to load the structure at 90% of its rupture limit. The acoustic tests were conducted in a special room of 1 500 m2 which was equipped with 16 high speakers which could generate a sound of 166 dB at frequencies from 50 to 2 000 Hz. These acoustic tests forced the engineers to redraw the structure of the shuttle, the heat shield, the seals and the soundproofing.

Since 1997 the shuttle has been in the Gorky park at Moscow in an amusement park. Specials armchairs has been installed in the payload bay to reproduce the weightlessness and a movie is played during 10 min, but the show doesn't attract as many people as planned and the mangers are facing financial difficulties. It was repainted to look like Buran 1.01 (the model which flew) this is why many people is mistaken about it."
This Buran shuttle has been fully "restored", as it has been converted to a small museum dedicated to the Buran program. Only the cockpit is still in its original shape, and the exterior as well (repainted).

From Baikonur with love !
Proton launch - April 2009

After a recent visit in Moscow, where I went from -65 meters deep to 59th floor high...; from the Taganskii Nuclear Bunker (-65 meters) to the top of the 59th floor at "Moscow City" new restaurant.

I will now take even more height !!

Last week-end, I was in Baikonur for a Proton M rocket launch. This is a very special chance to get this opportunity to see a launch, live in Baikonur, such a mythic place, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The launch vehicle lifted off from Pad 39. Really impressive, and one experience you will never forget!!!!

On 12 April, I just mentioned :

"Last week-end, I was in Baikonur for a Proton M rocket launch. This is a very special chance to get this opportunity to see a launch, live in Baikonur, such a mythic place, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The launch vehicle lifted off from Pad 39. Really impressive, and one experience you will never forget!!!!
#1 On the way to the Space Museum.
#2 At the entrance of the Museum.
#3 Entrance.
#4 Gagarin.
#5 Soyuz rocket model.
#6 Oudoors of the Museum, where the Buran shuttle is displayed.
#7 Buran Space Shuttle.
#8 Buran's cockpit.
#9 Inside Buran. It has been transformed in a small museum dedicated to space shuttles.
#10 Inside the Museum

Pics : © Christophe – ChR Collection

Christophe · (This post was last modified: 09-04-2013, 01:07 PM by CtahhR.)

On the way back / out...

A good pic used for the promotion booklet of the organisers of the visit...

Ch.

Pic : © Christophe – ChR Collection

Christophe · (This post was last modified: 09-04-2013, 01:08 PM by CtahhR.)

And, now a view of Moscow from the new restaurant on top of the 59th floor at "Moscow City", the new currently being built business district of the city.

3 of the 7 Sisters of Moscow.

Ch.

Pic : © Christophe – ChR Collection

Esteban_cool · 05-03-2009, 08:38 PM

Excellent pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us!

Christophe · (This post was last modified: 02-05-2012, 01:45 PM by CtahhR.)

This is the hangar where a drama occured exactly 7 years ago, beginning of May 2002.

The roof of this hangar collapsed, with 8 dead workers as a consequence.
Several reasons have been given for this accident : something falling on one of the massive fuel tanks kept inside the hangar, which would have produced a huge blast of air that caused the roof to swell and collapse, or a design miscalculation when the building, built in the 1960s, was renovated in the 1980s.

The hangar was originally built for the Soviet moon exploration program and was later used for assembling Energia booster rockets and the Buran. A full-scale test model of the Buran was trapped beneath debris after the collapse.

Ch.

#1 Hangar
#2 Hangar.
#3 Close-up pic.
#4 Our escort, on the way to the center of Baikonur... Are the cosmonauts escorted in the same way ? Big Grin