Buran-Energia

Here is an interview I had with Igor Volk test pilot of the Buran space shuttle.
He was selected in 1978 to become the chief of the test pilot crew of Buran and flew on the space station Salyut 7 in 1984 to test the aptitude of a cosmonaut to pilot the Buran on the way back.

The journey go on with the visit today of the Tsiolkovsky’s house. This house is located in the Kaluga town in the Tsiolkovsky’s street, not far from the Oka river.

It’s here.

During my recent trip in Moscow I had the occasion to visit the MAI museum, here are the pictures I took.

The test shuttle OK-TVA stands in the Gorky park, along the Moskva river. This shuttle has been laid out into an attraction for many years but is exhibited without protection and is thrown to the bad weathers, especially hards in Moscow, which ended to destroy the false thermal shield.

Works began during summer 2009 to restore it. We can see on the next picture that the heat shield is being torn off.

Here are some pictures taken this summer. The heat shield is almost completely removed from the shuttle (workers are busy on the wing) and the tiles pattern is painted directly on the fuselage. I understand this only in a manner to simplify the maintenance of the shuttle. Indeed, it’s easier to look after painting that tens of thousands of false wooden tiles which ended to decay.

Other pictures here.