Buran-Energia

Here is some pictures of the test shuttle OK-TVA that I took in Moscow the last August.

This test shuttle was used for testing the heat shield, and for mechanical and acoustics tests.

It was moved in the Gorky parc in 1997 and renovated. The tiles of the heat shield were removed and replaced by ones in wood, but the bottom on the shuttle doesn’t have any. The payload bay was fit out to a cinema room where a movie is shown, moreover the people are sitting on articulated chair which let us think that the show will be interesting (like we can see in futuristic parks). But nothing at all, the movie is not about Buran, we only see a picture of the lift off of 1988 and during 10 minutes they show us pictures of the Earth (like a Power Point presentation made by a 10 years old boy), moreover the chairs are not working !

It worth the price we payed (50 rubles to get in the park + 50 rubles for this « show »), around 5 US dollars, but they could have made something much better !

The other pictures are here.