The saddest thing is that the Space Race was only done as a way to keep the population of USA/Russia happy during the cold war.
Really? In what way?
many differences separate the 2 orbitors, here are some: the Buran shuttle have a higher orbital and deorbital carrying capacity, its 2 engines at the rear enables it to fly during the re-entry in the atmosphere, it is equipped with a more powerful heat shield, but the main difference is that Buran can fly in automatic mode without any pilot on-board, from the takeoff of the rocket to its landing on the tarmac.
Those are some great shots, and such a shame to see something that cool basically left to rot
It would have been great if they'd been able to at least offer the shuttle to a museum as it looks pretty amazing (and goes to prove that form follows function in how close it is to the US versions in basic shape/design).
If you look at these two photos below, it looks like the actual Space Shuttle itself is looked after, with all the new fencing and tidy gravel areas etc!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5lx-rdYFjfY/TPulNdQbkeI/AAAAAAAACEU/O9gvT-VUg4A/s1600/34.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5lx-rdYFjfY/TPulGx_rFvI/AAAAAAAACEE/dBxwk1dYvZ0/s1600/30.jpg
Wow, I could have sworn it was humanity's thirst for exploration, multiplication and evolution that kicked off the space race.The saddest thing is that the Space Race was only done as a way to keep the population of USA/Russia happy during the cold war.
Whilst we're on this subject, I saw some pictures of an olympic sized swimming pool on the top of some large hill that was deserted, I can't remember much about it, possibly somewhere in russia or maybe somewhere hot, I definitely remember some troops in the pictures.
I think your talking about the one in Afghanistan. The russian's built it and after they left the taliban and other groups used to hang people from the diving pool if i remember correctly
What an amazing site. There are so many abandoned places in Russia I'd like to go to.