Photos of fossilized '80s Russian Space Shuttle knockoff
BoingBoing reader TabulaRasa in Germany says,Link to image gallery from Der Spiegel magazine (text in German)"In the late 1980s, the Russians tried to develop their own Space Shuttle. Well, actually -- one even ended up flying into space just one time -- Buran. After this flight, the hangar where it was housed in Baikonur collapsed and destroyed the craft.
"This is an online photo gallery of Buran 002, another prototype that was sold to an Australian businessman named David Hammer. During the Olympic Games in Sydney, the prototype was part of an exhibition. Then it was sold to a company in Singapore, and was shipped to Bahrain, where it became stranded somewhere in the desert.
"Eventually it was sold to a German museum, and will soon be shipped one last time -- to become part of an exhibition. Some things are still working, as you can see from the photos in this online image gallery. Guess I'll have make a visit to this museum when the shuttle has arrived!"
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Xeni Jardin
Boing Boing partner, Boing Boing Video host and executive producer. Xeni.net, Twitter, Google+. Email: xeni@xeni.net.
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