Author Topic: The Buran Thread  (Read 637719 times)

Offline comethunter

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #720 on: 12/17/2008 04:22 pm »
I would recommend the Steppenwolf/Born to be wild video to start things off.

Offline buran.fr

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #721 on: 12/21/2008 08:29 am »
I had this news some days ago and I didn't put it here so I do now:

The catapult which was used to test the ejectables seats of Buran was moved some weeks ago from Zhukovski air base (near Moscow).



Offline Zero-G

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #722 on: 12/21/2008 08:51 am »
I had this news some days ago and I didn't put it here so I do now:

The catapult which was used to test the ejectables seats of Buran was moved some weeks ago from Zhukovski air base (near Moscow).

Where has the catapult been moved to now? Is it going to a museum, or will it be scrapped?
"I still don't understand who I am: the first human or the last dog in space." - Yuri Gagarin

Offline buran.fr

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #723 on: 12/21/2008 08:56 am »
The problem is that I couldn't have the information :(

Offline pargoo

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #724 on: 03/08/2009 11:40 pm »
     <yawn> Pardon me for sounding cynical, but a new book on Almaz?  Riiiiight.  Seriously, who buys that Russian rubbish?  I'm SURE it'll be choc-full of color pics of these stations being prepared/launced and in orbit?  I don't think...

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #725 on: 03/09/2009 02:25 pm »
     <yawn> Pardon me for sounding cynical, but a new book on Almaz?  Riiiiight.  Seriously, who buys that Russian rubbish?  I'm SURE it'll be choc-full of color pics of these stations being prepared/launced and in orbit?  I don't think...

Why the cynicism?  The Russians have released tremendous amounts of information on the past decade.

Offline DMeader

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #726 on: 03/09/2009 02:55 pm »
     <yawn> Pardon me for sounding cynical, but a new book on Almaz?  Riiiiight.  Seriously, who buys that Russian rubbish?  I'm SURE it'll be choc-full of color pics of these stations being prepared/launced and in orbit?  I don't think...

Well, I would for one. I just finished one book on Soyuz ("Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft" by Hall and Shayler) and another on Mir ("The Story of Space Station Mir" by Harland), and I wold enjoy a book on Chelomei's Almaz.  Oh, and some of us can enjoy a book that isn't chock-full of pretty pictures.

Why the derision and hostility?
« Last Edit: 03/09/2009 02:57 pm by DMeader »

Offline pargoo

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #727 on: 03/10/2009 04:03 am »
     "Tremendous amounts of information'?  In relation to the vacuum that existed beforehand, that *might* be considered true.  I still think Russian books claiming all sorts of 'firsts' and 'new photos',etc, are a scam.
     Their photo archives have not been opened to researchers.  There is only ONE good book in the Soviet space program IMHO: Phil Clark's excellent "The Soviet Manned Space Program", now much in need of an update.  The only 'book' that has ever come close to blowing me away was the "Rocket and Space Corporation Energia" pamphlet.  For the time, it had stunning new pics of Voskhod being assembled AND on the pad, some UR-500/Zond shots (stills from a movie, admittedly, but still new to me), lovely shots of the N1-L3 system, and some nice Buran/Energia stuff.  But just think of all the things we still *haven't* seen.  Color shots of the Almaz(Salyut) stations in orbit, being built, being launched, etc, seeing as we're talking about that particular subject.  I stand by to be corrected, but I bet you my house that this new book ain't got 'em!
     I just think we've been dudded too long.  The USSR ceased to exist nearly 20 years ago.  I realize they might have secrecy classifications on some things, just like the US does, but at least their civilian programs can be completely out in the open now.  They seem to think we should get excited about shots of the latest Progress launch, as if by providing them we can be distracted enough to forget about all the yummy things from the past they still don't think we're worthy of seeing.
     I am 44, and I am starting to doubt if I'll ever get my hands on those historic goodies before I shuffle off this mortal coil.  I hope I'm wrong, but each new publication just lets me down again...

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #728 on: 03/10/2009 09:38 am »
There is only ONE good book in the Soviet space program IMHO: Phil Clark's excellent "The Soviet Manned Space Program", now much in need of an update. 

The fact that you did not mention Asif Siddiqi's "Challenge to Apollo" indicates that you are not very familiar with the literature.

Offline Zero-G

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #729 on: 03/10/2009 10:16 am »
... I just finished one book on Soyuz ("Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft" by Hall and Shayler) and another on Mir ("The Story of Space Station Mir" by Harland)
They are both very interesting and well researched books, IMHO. I enjoyed them both.
To come back to the topic of this thread, there is another book from the same publisher (Springer Praxis) I would highly recommend:
"Energiya-Buran - The Soviet Space Shuttle" by Hendrickx and Vis.
http://www.amazon.com/Energiya-Buran-Soviet-Shuttle-Springer-Exploration/dp/0387698485/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236682535&sr=8-1
(Don't know if it has been mentioned here before.)
"I still don't understand who I am: the first human or the last dog in space." - Yuri Gagarin

Offline pargoo

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #730 on: 03/11/2009 03:06 am »
     I haven't actually bought "Challenge to Apollo', true.  I wasn't expecting anything new!  Perhaps you can correect me on this?
     The aforementioned book on Energia/Buran makes compulsive reading, emphasis on the 'reading'.  The pics aren't new - I've seen them all on the  www.buran.ru site, and even more disappointingly, they're all b&w.  I went so far as to teach myself enough Russian to read their publications, and have several - again, enough to convince me that they're not worth the money, so no more of this 'unfamiliar with the subject matter' chat...

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #731 on: 03/13/2009 10:01 pm »
1-I haven't actually bought "Challenge to Apollo', true.  I wasn't expecting anything new!  Perhaps you can correect me on this?
2-The aforementioned book on Energia/Buran makes compulsive reading, emphasis on the 'reading'.  The pics aren't new - I've seen them all on the  www.buran.ru site, and even more disappointingly, they're all b&w.  I went so far as to teach myself enough Russian to read their publications, and have several - again, enough to convince me that they're not worth the money, so no more of this 'unfamiliar with the subject matter' chat...

1-Go buy the commercial press version, produced in two volumes: Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge and The Soviet Space Race with Apollo.

The book is the most important English-language history of the Soviet space program that has been published.

While you're at it, you should also check out the several volumes of Chertok's memoirs published by NASA and edited by Siddiqi.

2-I'm sorry, but your comments make it difficult to conclude that you are familiar with the literature.  There has been a tremendous amount of new material on the Soviet space program that has been released, starting in the mid-1990s.  You refuse to acknowledge that, or make odd comments that books are no good unless they're filled with pictures.  A blanket statement that there's been no good info, followed by a comment that there's a lot of info, but it's on the web, and the pictures are black and white, is contradictory.

3-(I realize there was no 3, so I'm making a 3) In addition to the sources already mentioned, there were a series of articles in Spaceflight magazine in the 1990s that shed light on many aspects of the development of the Soviet R-7 ICBM/rocket.  It was amazing material.

Offline dwmzmm

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #732 on: 03/14/2009 12:12 am »



2-I'm sorry, but your comments make it difficult to conclude that you are familiar with the literature.  There has been a tremendous amount of new material on the Soviet space program that has been released, starting in the mid-1990s.  You refuse to acknowledge that, or make odd comments that books are no good unless they're filled with pictures.  A blanket statement that there's been no good info, followed by a comment that there's a lot of info, but it's on the web, and the pictures are black and white, is contradictory.



Very true; a case in point is the book "Apollo - The Behind-The-Scenes
Story of One of Humankind's Greatest Achievements" by Charles Murray &
Catherine Bly Cox.  I ordered this book several years ago thinking it was
going to have a lot of pictures of the Saturn - V/Apollo spacecraft, etc.,
but instead it has NO pictures whatsoever (except a really nice Saturn - V liftoff photo on the cover).  Instead, the book offers very compelling and dramatic insights by those who were behind the scenes (controllers,
engineers, scientists, etc) that, once you start reading, it's hard to put
it down. 
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Offline Art LeBrun

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #733 on: 03/14/2009 01:50 am »
3-(I realize there was no 3, so I'm making a 3) In addition to the sources already mentioned, there were a series of articles in Spaceflight magazine in the 1990s that shed light on many aspects of the development of the Soviet R-7 ICBM/rocket.  It was amazing material.
[/quote]

The author was Timothy Varfolomeyev and he included lotsa details
on the R-7 and it's evolution to the Molniya SLV for lunar, Venus and
Mars probes. Many designations and flight results. Part 4 was in the
January 1998 Vol 40 No 1 Spaceflight. Well worth digging up.
1958 launch vehicle highlights: Vanguard TV-4 and Atlas 12B

Offline Art LeBrun

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #734 on: 03/14/2009 02:02 am »
For Soviet/Russian images look at the evolving SPACEPHOTOS.RU
site hosted by Andrey Lysenko. Mostly recent images but interpersed among the different launch vehicles are some older images. More to
come as I understand. There is an effort in Russia to unveil the history.
1958 launch vehicle highlights: Vanguard TV-4 and Atlas 12B

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #735 on: 03/14/2009 11:46 am »
I thought that Varfolomeyev wrote about ten articles on the subject, but I'd have to go through old issues to see.

Offline gwiz

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #736 on: 03/14/2009 03:43 pm »
I thought that Varfolomeyev wrote about ten articles on the subject, but I'd have to go through old issues to see.
There were thirteen parts, published in Spaceflight for Aug 95, Feb and Jun 96, Jan, Mar, May, Sep and Dec 98, May 99, Apr and Oct 00, Jan and Apr 01.

I got the impression that there should have been more,but for some reason the series ended prematurely.
« Last Edit: 03/14/2009 04:12 pm by gwiz »

Offline Art LeBrun

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #737 on: 03/14/2009 08:12 pm »
Thanks for the issues - now I will search for any I need to scan.
1958 launch vehicle highlights: Vanguard TV-4 and Atlas 12B

Offline pargoo

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #738 on: 03/15/2009 01:47 am »
    Yep, spacrfotos.ru has shown a degree of promise, but ishandicapped by the same problem: the USSR's photo archives still remain closed.  I think of what's been released so far on that site indicates, more than anything,  just what we're missing out on.  I've ordered a couple of pics from them.  I hope they're worth it.
     Lastly, I'm not obsessed with photos.  It's just that to justify a book on the Russian space program, filling it with yet more grainy, blurry b&w's, artist's impressions and line drawings is getting seriously stale.  For instance: "13: The Flight that Failed" by Henry Cooper is by FAR the best book on the Apollo 13 accident I've ever seen, and guess what.  Not a pic in sight!  But having already seen the Apollo 13 pics elsewhere, it didn't really matter.  The quality of his writing more than made up for that.  No Russian book published so far can make up with good prose for the lack of pics, because you can't see tham anywhere else...

Offline Blackstar

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Re: The Buran Thread
« Reply #739 on: 03/15/2009 02:16 am »
I got the impression that there should have been more,but for some reason the series ended prematurely.

Yeah, I had the same impression--that he just quit.

 

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