The only two countries with Space Shuttle Technology are the US, and Khazakstan.

[dolari]

We need a new shuttle, and they have two.


(I seriously suggest using http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr to translate the Russian pages)

They have one sitting on a tarmac waiting for takeoff (where it's been for several years because they don't have the money to take it down). It's spaceworthy, only been around the Earth twice, lost almost no heat tiles on the way down. Sittin' right there waiting.

There is at least one other completed shuttle waiting, a third mostly complete, and spare parts available to build two more.

Mind you, one is a restaurant in Moscow, but that's beside the point.

With some modifications, I'm sure we can either adapt the shuttle to use our rocketboosters, or adapt the rocketboosters to use the shuttle. Or, heck, see if we can get an Energia launcher are part of the deal.

Might be cheaper than trying to upgrade the Enterprise to spaceworthy status, as was done with the Challenger.

Not to mention they're for sale. Cheap.

It's a really neat site....

UPDATE - Seems NASA has an official Buran site as well: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/rsa/buran.html

Comments

[mesmereyes.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Where's the page where you found the shuttle picture and the article?

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

If you click on the link you'll go to the official Buran page (http://www.buran.ru), but most of it's in Russian. NASA has a page about the Barun at http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/rsa/buran.html as well.

The official site is nice, the NASA site is sparse but there are a LOT of fan pages out there:

http://www.google.com/search?q=buran+shuttle&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Another GREAT Buran page is http://www.astronautix.com/craft/buran.htm

Re:

[mesmereyes.livejournal.com]

thanks!