1993: The fuselage of Buran test article 0.11 with wings from two different orbiters is transported by barge from NPO Molniya's Tushino factory to Gorky Park, where it would spend the next two decades. In the background - the White House just days after shelling

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...

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

After a spot of pre-dinner retouching, a lovely new photo of a Myasishchev VM-T Atlant during a flight test with a Buran orbiter test article on its back.

After a spot of pre-dinner retouching, a lovely new photo of a Myasishchev VM-T Atlant during a flight test with a Buran orbiter test article on its back.

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

Over 4000 images now on buranarchive.space!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

SVOD 1:10 scale test stand at NIIKhimmash, used to test the gas dynamics and plume interactions with the pad during the ignition and liftoff of the Energia-Buran stack. Image: "Reusable Space System Energia-Buran", OmV Luch, 2004

Buran cabin module in the assembly workshop of NPO Molniya's Tushino Machine-building Plant (TMZ).

Buran and the Antonov An-225 Mriya.

The business end of the Energia 4M and the Buran orbiter in Baikonur's Rocket Assembly and Test Facility after the 2002 roof collapse.

I moved the captions into the diagram, I hope you approve!

Cutaway of the Zarya reusable capsule developed by NPO Energia in the 1980s. The spacecraft would use Buran-derived reusable heat protection tiles. 1. Descent module 2. Cargo 3. Landing engine 4. Work compartment 5. Pressure vessel 6. Porthole 7. Star sensor 8. Ejection seat 9. Control panel

In one of the high bays in the Rocket Assembly and Test Facility (MIK RN). Two Energia core stages in the background.

Classic Buran orbiter section view.

NPO Energia chief Valentin Glushko with a model of the Energia rocket in late 1987.

Buran on the pad in November 1988.

TsAGI wind tunnel model of the Buran orbiter. via TsAGI on TheFacebook/Facemash

Energia 6SL on the Universal Test Stand and Launch Complex (UKSS) in 1987.

Buran wind tunnel model at TsAGI.

Here's a rare sight: the Energia core stage oxygen tank during manufacturing at the Progress factory in Samara.

Energia core stage and Blok Ya launch table adapter in the MIK RN building in Baikonur.

A tour visiting one of the low bays of the Rocket Assembly and Test Facility (MIK RN) at Baikonur's site 112. A beautiful selection of Energia strap-on booster segments on view!

Inside the engine section of the Energia core stage.

1987 illustration of the possible appearance of the Energia family based on the limited available images as published in the Freie Welt magazine. Freie Welt, xx, 1987 via space.org.ru/Media/Images/Enargy1.jpg

Buran being mated to the VM-T Atlant at Zhukovsky airfield before the ferry flight to Baikonur, 1985.

Fuselage of the cancelled Buran orbiter 3K in the TMZ factory in Tushino near Moscow in 2000. Alexei Mikheyev via buran ru

Disassembly and transport of Buran aerodynamic analogue OK-GLI in October 1999. via buran-energia.com/bourane-buran/bourane-modele-gli-demontage.php

Licensintorg poster advertising Energia-Buran launch services in the West. Scan by @gimme_yo_beans on Twitter (acc suspended since), retouched by yours truly

The Energia-M mockup on the way to the UKSS for pad tests. via ok.ru

Energia test article 3D in the MIK 112 building in Baikonur. via forum.raumfahrer.net/index.php?to...

Lots of document scans on early Buran, Energia, OK-92, OS-120 and the RLA family assembled in order as the individual pages trickle out from Roscosmos and RGANTD. Slowly working on adding the translated text in the descriptions. Check it out! buranarchive.space/index?/categ...

I found some footage of the tripropellant preburner demonstrator hot fire test from the Aerojet-CADB (KBKhA) RD-0120 program. The article also includes this video as well.

This video has been doing the rounds recently, so here's the full resolution clip from the documentary "Doroga v Kosmos. Energia Buran: Polet v Budushcheye"

Buran on the An-225 Mriya at the Yubileyniy Airfield in Baikonur in 1989.

Lovely photo of Energia integration in the Rocket Assembly and Test Facility (MIK RN) in Baikonur. And a fresh Blok Ya launch table adapter at the bottom of the frame. Human for scale!

And here's a longer shot of Buran and Zarya (FGB) in MIK 254 in Baikonur.

The Buran orbiter mothballed in the Orbiter Assembly and Test Facility (MIK OK) at site 254 in Baikonur in 1997; around a year before it was stacked with an Energia test article in MIK RN. MIK OK (MIK 254) is currently the Soyuz spacecraft pre-flight processing facility.

Launch of Polyus (Skif-DM) and Energia 6SL on 15 May 1987.

Write-up on tripropellant RD-0120 development for X-33, RLV and Angara. medium.com/fifty-one-po...