Why was the Soviet space shuttle left to rot?
After NASA announced its space shuttle program, the Soviet Union responded with its own, nearly identical version. The Soviet Buran space shuttle and NASA's own shuttle look pretty similar, in large part because the Soviet version copied the American one. But why? And why didn't the Soviet shuttle program take off like the American one did?
For more on Buran and the shuttle program that barely got off the ground, check out the latest post on VintageSpace: http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-spac...
Photographer Ralph Mirebs has some stunning images of two unflown orbiters languishing in a hangar on his livejournal page: http://ralphmirebs.livejournal.com/21...
Aviation Week has a gallery of the destroyed Buran after the hangar it was in collapsed: http://aviationweek.com/blog/photos-s...
Thumbnail image via oscial.co