OK-GLI

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Buran OK-GLI (BTS-002), Schukowski , (1997)
Rear view, on the way to the Technik-Museum Speyer (2008)

The OK-GLI is a 1984-built prototype of a space shuttle of the Soviet Buran program . It served the aerodynamic testing of the flight characteristics and the automatic landing system. As the only space shuttle in the world, this model could take off and land independently like a four-engine aircraft without additional missiles.

history

The Buran OK-GLI (or BTS-02) model, the prototype of the space shuttle program, was the only model equipped with its own engines and successfully completed 25 atmospheric flights to test the landing system. In December 1989 the tests were completed. The aircraft was considered worn out and stored in Baikonur .

Russia sold it to Australia as an exhibit before the 2000 Sydney Olympics . As a result, it was then to be exhibited in the context of the Summer Festival in Bahrain in June 2002 , but remained there due to financial problems of the organizer, where it was apparently forgotten. Satellite images on Google Earth show that OK-GLI was dismantled and stored behind a warehouse in the port area ( 26 ° 11 ′ 54 ″  N , 50 ° 36 ′ 10 ″  E , dated December 31, 2006).

In May 2002, OK-GLI was offered for sale at an auction of the radio station News 980 KFWB-AM in Los Angeles with a starting price of six million US dollars, but without any serious bidders.

While filming for Formula 1 in Bahrain , a German television team came across OK-GLI again in autumn 2003. At the end of 2003 it was bought by the Technik Museum Speyer for an estimated six-digit euro amount and was originally to be exhibited there from mid-2006. Due to ongoing legal disputes between the last buyer and NPO Molnija , the transport to Speyer was delayed again and again. Finally, the ferry should have been brought to Malaysia, where it was to be exhibited at the Malaysia International Aerospace Exhibition 2007 from June 5, 2007 to August 7, 2007, but this event was canceled. In spring 2008 the transport to Speyer could finally begin.

The OK-GLI was transported by sea from Bahrain to Rotterdam and then on the Rhine to the Technik-Museum Speyer, which it reached on April 12, 2008. It has been exhibited there since October 2008. The total costs for the purchase, transport and the specially built new exhibition hall for the Technik Museum Speyer came to around ten million euros.

technology

Compared to the orbiter Buran OK-GLI was four Ljulka AL-31 - jet engines as well as in the aircraft -27 Su and Su-30 may be used equipped, and was thereby able, with its own drive, such as an aircraft from a runway take off, which neither the orbiter nor the US space shuttle could. The two top engines on the side of the vertical stabilizer are part of the original Orbiter design, which included two cruise engines to increase the range on landing. The engines are equipped with a heat protection jacket and flaps on the engine inlets. However, they were never used on the Orbiter Buran because of technical problems and the associated risk of delaying the project. The bays for the jet engines were available on all orbiters and only closed with a cover.

Buran OK-GLI has a total length of 36.37 m, a largest fuselage width of 5.5 m and a wingspan of 23.92 m. The maximum take-off weight was 105  t with a payload of up to 30 t. The landing weight could be 82 t, with a landing speed of 312 km / h 15 t payload and at 360 km / h 20 t payload. The ferry had space for up to 10 people.

Test flights

Nine taxiing tests and twenty-five test flights in the atmosphere were carried out with OK-GLI in Baikonur .

date description Maximum speed Maximum height Duration Crew / remarks
December 29, 1984 Roll test 1 45 km / h 5 min Rimantas Stankevičius , Igor Wolk
2nd August 1985 Roll test 2 200 km / h 14 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
5th October 1985 Roll test 3 270 km / h 12 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
October 15, 1985 Roll test 4 300 km / h Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
November 10, 1985 Flight 1 480 km / h 1500 m 12 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
November 15, 1985 Roll test 5 170 km / h 12 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
January 3, 1986 Flight 2 520 km / h 3000 m 36 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
April 6, 1986 Roll test 6 14 min Anatoly Levchenko , Alexander Shchukin
May 27, 1986 Flight 3 540 km / h 4000 m 23 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
June 11, 1986 Flight 4 530 km / h 4000 m 22 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
June 20, 1986 Flight 5 25 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
June 28, 1986 Flight 6 23 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
December 10, 1986 Flight 7 4000 m 24 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk / First automatic landing
December 23, 1986 Flight 8 17 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
December 29, 1986 Flight 9 17 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
February 16, 1987 Flight 10 28 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
February 25, 1987 Flight 11 19 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
March 29, 1987 Roll test 7 2 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
March 30, 1987 Roll test 8 25 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
May 21, 1987 Flight 12 20 min Anatoly Levchenko, Alexander Shchukin
June 25, 1987 Flight 13 19 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
5th October 1987 Flight 14 21 min Alexander Shchukin, Igor Wolk / automatic landing
October 15, 1987 Flight 15 19 min Ivan Batschurin , Alexei Borodai
January 16, 1988 Flight 16 Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
January 24, 1988 Flight 17 Ivan Batschurin, Alexei Borodai
February 23, 1988 Flight 18 22 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
March 4, 1988 Flight 19 32 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
March 12, 1988 Flight 20 Ivan Batschurin, Alexei Borodai
March 23, 1988 Flight 21 Ivan Batschurin, Alexei Borodai
March 28, 1988 Flight 22 Ivan Batschurin, Alexei Borodai
April 2nd, 1988 Flight 23 20 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
April 8, 1988 Flight 24 Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
April 15, 1988 Flight 25 19 min Rimantas Stankevičius, Igor Wolk
December 29, 1989 Roll test 9 Rimantas Stankevičius, Wiktor Sabolotski

Picture gallery

literature

  • Heinz Elser: Buran - history and transport of the Russian space shuttle OK-GLI in the Technikmuseum Speyer , 2008, ISBN 3-9809437-7-1

Web links

Commons : OK-GLI  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. suburbia.com.au: Buran Analogue / 002 in Sydney , accessed July 2, 2006
  2. collectspace.com (10 February 2000): Russian shuttle lands down under , accessed on July 2, 2006
  3. googlesightseeing.com: Buran OK-GLI , date setting: December 31, 2006, accessed September 26, 2009
  4. Jim Banke: Auction fails to sell Buran, still for sale. May 23, 2002, accessed August 15, 2013 .
  5. Stern online (September 23, 2004): Bahrain: A UFO in the desert , accessed on November 15, 2008
  6. ^ Spiegel Online (September 23, 2004): Sinsheimer Museum buys the Soviet shuttle , accessed on November 16, 2008
  7. aerospaceweb.org: Analog Buran test vehicle , accessed November 16, 2008
  8. ^ Spiegel Online (April 12, 2008): "Buran's" last trip , accessed on November 16, 2008
  9. buran-energia.com: Buran Composition Turbojets , accessed on November 16, 2008
  10. ^ Source: Museum brochure Technikmuseum Speyer
  11. Krzys Kotwicki: Buran Energia Timeline History , accessed August 4, 2006
  12. Buran Analogue in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed August 5, 2006