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dolariWe 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
(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
