Abandoned Ship: Spacecraft Discovered in Huge Derelict Hangar

space shuttle associated structures

Operational from the mid-1970s through 1993, the Buran program was housed in a gigantic building (over 200 feet tall) in which the Soviet N1 moon rocket was constructed and other space vehicles were created and maintained.

space shuttle dock station

space shuttle pair view

space shuttle abandoned interior

space shuttle front angle

Today, two Buran shuttles remain – one nearly-finished model that was partially destroyed in the early 2000s when a portion of the ceiling collapsed on top of it, and a prototype used for structural testing that remains remarkably intact.

space shuttle russia walkway

space shuttle building details

space craft ground level

space shuttle nose view

From Wikipedia: “The Buran programme was started by the Soviet Union as a response to the United States Space Shuttle programme. The project was the largest and the most expensive in the history of Soviet space exploration. Development work included sending BOR-5 test vehicles on multiple sub-orbital test flights, and atmospheric flights of the OK-GLI aerodynamic prototype. Buran completed one unmanned orbital spaceflight in 1988 before its cancellation in 1993.”