A few friends of mine and I had long wanted to visit the Technik Museum in Speyer, mostly to see the soviet space shuttle Buran (below). However, there was plenty else at the museum. I hadn’t expected to see an F-15; I don’t think I ever realized how big these birds are until I got up close. The scale and complexity of these machines is mind-blowing.
The Buran
The Buran was a highly capable spaceplane developed by the USSR during the 1980s, which achieved only a single orbital launch before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Due to insufficient funding, Roscosmos ended the Buran program in 1993. In 2002, a storage hangar containg the only Buran shuttle to reach orbit collapsed, destroying it in the process. Technik Museum Speyer acquired one of the last surviving test articles of the Buran program, which was used to train crews, design workflows as well as perform flight tests and simulations.
Above, the image on the left shows the Buran in its full glory. It is strikingly similar to the US Space Shuttle, but has some notable differences: the first-stage engines are relegated to the booster, for one. The Buran orbiter comes equipped with a simple Orbital Maneuving System (OMS) using cold-gas thrusters. Unlike its destroyed orbital counterpart, this Buran test article has jet engines which were used during flight tests to help guide the shuttle during descent and landing. The orbiter variant wouldn’t end up requiring these engines.
The image on the right contains another, smaller Buran test article which was used to test the aerodynamic properties of the shuttle, as well as the heat shield.
The Technik Museum has a lot more to offer, including a few U-Boote, antique cars and planes, all sorts of stuff. I recommend a visit if you’re in the area! Check out their website:
And if you’re interested in a more in-depth look at the Buran, here’s a short documentary I can recommend:
Ist ein richtig cooles Museum, kann ich nur weiterempfehlen