An ongoing feud over the fate of a Soviet Buran-class orbiter took a surreal turn recently when the Kazakh businessman offered to trade it with Russian aut
In 1980, the Soviet Union began construction on the first Buran (Russian for “Snowstorm” or “Blizzard”) space shuttle orbiter. In 1988, the first and only Buran flew an uncrewed mission and returned safely after two orbits. No other Burans went to space the original was destroyed in a 2002 hangar fire, five unfinished ships. Read more »