My article on the reusable Zarya capsule now on TSR. thespacereview.com/article/5184/1

A look at the evolution of my beloved APAS-89 port from its 1970s origins to the triumphs of the ISS era. fiftyonepointsix.com/how-differen...

A look at the evolution of my beloved APAS-89 port from its 1970s origins to the triumphs of the ISS era. fiftyonepointsix.com/how-differen...

The full story of the ISS' peculiar Science Power Platform, from its origins as part of the Mir-2 complex, inclusion in ISS plans and cancellation, to the surprising resurrection. fiftyonepointsix.com/science-powe...

The full story of the ISS' peculiar Science Power Platform, from its origins as part of the Mir-2 complex, inclusion in ISS plans and cancellation, to the surprising resurrection. fiftyonepointsix.com/science-powe...

acrobat froze when i clicked to disable ai features lmao

ok I’m on 2006, one more chapter

cheeky Science Power Platform pressure vessel in the background my article on the power stick should finally land in a couple of days, it's going to be pretty chonky, but well illustrated

RD-170 chambers waiting for assembly

Recolored version of the Russ Arasmith illustration of the final Space Shuttle Phase B design by the NAR-led team; the Convair B9U booster and NAR-161-B orbiter. b&w scan by @macsjr.bsky.social, color via nasa.gov

RD-170 butchery and book scans. Deep Cuts Vol. 5 fiftyonepointsix.com/rd-170-butch...

RD-170 butchery and book scans. Deep Cuts Vol. 5 fiftyonepointsix.com/rd-170-butch...

not bad

Full 6 minute video of the MAKS tank mockup manufacturing and assembly at NPO Molniya and transport by helicopter.

another previously unreleased photo of 1K "Buran" in the short-lived Baikal livery casually dropped by Vadim Lukashevich as part of a meme

how your email finds me

two flavors

I know an RD-0120 when I see one!

Some shots from the 2004 online auction where the third Buran orbiter was for offered for sale on allegro (iykyk)

ok sorry for the chaos, there might be something to this model after all. it does seem to be the same model as in this photo of Pilyugin and Lozino-Lozinskiy dated 1978

buran-related transportation finds

Orbiter curiosities fiftyonepointsix.com/orbiter-curi...

what a bizarre paint scheme on the Energia

Orbiter curiosities fiftyonepointsix.com/orbiter-curi...

In a way quite infuriating that they’ve been sitting on these for 40 years. The photos in the top left were officially published in 2023 as crappy 800 pixel wide scans in black and white

need

John Frassanito illustration of the Energia with a NASA payload

tbt when the Myasishchev VM-T Atlant carrying the second Buran orbiter skidded off the runway and got stuck in the snow at Zhukovsky

Another one. this time just a before and after the souvenirs were taken

If I got a penny for every time someone brought up bald and bankrupt to me I’d have at least 39 pennies

cursed buran ferry concept

i understand the logic but it still feels wrong

Rockwell shuttle concept with a Grumman livery for some reason?

my recreation of the Danne and Blackburn-era NASA video intro brutally compressed into gif form

Messing around on Google Earth trying to locate bits of Buran and Energia hardware, and suddenly the MAKS propellant tank mockup appeared before my eyes, right next to a Myasishchev VM-T Atlant and the PKU-50 mate-demate device at Zhukovsky airfield. Image from 2002.

RD-150 and new Buran photos. fiftyonepointsix.com/massive-engi...

1/3 scale wooden model of the Buran orbiter at Zhukovsky in the 90s

a Buran forward fuselage test article outside NPO Molniya's Tushino factory gradually losing tiles to ebaycitis over time

Took me way too long to spot this, but Rockwell's full-scale mockup of the Shuttle orbiter was built before the design was finalised, so it features the Vehicle 4 configuration's longer OMS pods that overlap the payload bay instead of the blunt pods on the final Vehicle 6.

Hermes mockup my beloved

I now have over 1000 bits of shuttle concept art favorited on Flickr, sorted by contractor and model name

Late Phase-B shuttle looked so cool...

Some recent Buran finds. medium.com/fifty-one-po...

Another Vadim Lukashevich gem. This time, the setup for ejection seat tests during Progress flights to Mir. The first generation of the Progress used standard Soyuz launch abort towers and Progress 38 through 42 flew with a Zvezda K-36RB seat and a dummy cosmonaut that ejected after tower jettison.

A lovely image from the NK forum: a mockup of the RD-150, a 1000 tonne thrust kerolox engine for the RLA family, which later evolved into the Energia and Zenit.

Most likely drawn in 1987

Enjoy fiftyonepointsix.com/deep-cuts-vo...

How many Buran orbiters were actually built? More than you think. Here's every one of them - it's a long one. medium.com/@energiabura...

buran amirite

Ariane 5 flavors