When you look at photographs of the Burana and Shuttle winged spacecraft, you might get the impression that they are quite identical. At least there shouldn't be any fundamental differences. Despite the external similarity, these two space systems are still fundamentally different.
Shuttle and Buran
Shuttle
The Shuttle is a reusable transport spacecraft (MTKK). The ship has three liquid-propellant rocket engines (LPRE), running on hydrogen. Oxidizing agent - liquid oxygen. To make an entry into a near-earth orbit, a huge amount of fuel and oxidizer is required. Therefore, the fuel tank is the largest element of the Space Shuttle system. The spacecraft is located on this huge tank and is connected to it by a system of pipelines through which fuel and oxidizer are supplied to the Shuttle's engines.
And all the same, the three powerful engines of the winged ship are not enough to go into space. Attached to the central tank of the system are two solid-propellant boosters - the most powerful rockets in the history of mankind to date. The greatest power is needed precisely at the start to move the multi-ton ship and lift it to the first four and a half tens of kilometers. Solid rocket boosters take on 83% of the load.
Another "Shuttle" takes off
At an altitude of 45 km, solid-propellant boosters, having used up all the fuel, are separated from the ship and, by parachute, splash down in the ocean. Further, to an altitude of 113 km, the "shuttle" rises with the help of three rocket engines. After separating the tank, the ship flies for another 90 seconds by inertia and then, for a short time, two orbital maneuvering engines powered by self-igniting fuel are turned on. And the "shuttle" goes into a working orbit. And the tank enters the atmosphere, where it burns. Parts of it fall into the ocean.
Department of solid fuel accelerators
Orbital maneuvering engines are designed, as their name implies, for various maneuvers in space: for changing orbital parameters, for docking to the ISS or to other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. So the "shuttles" made several visits to the Hubble orbiting telescope for servicing.
And finally, these motors serve to create a braking impulse when returning to Earth.
The orbital stage is made according to the aerodynamic configuration of a tailless monoplane with a low-lying delta wing with a double sweep of the leading edge and with a vertical tail of the usual scheme. For atmospheric control, a two-piece rudder on the keel (here is an air brake), elevons on the trailing edge of the wing and a balancing flap under the aft fuselage are used. Retractable chassis, tricycle, with nose wheel.
Length 37, 24 m, wingspan 23, 79 m, height 17, 27 m. "Dry" weight of the vehicle is about 68 t, takeoff weight - from 85 to 114 t (depending on the task and payload), landing with a return load on board - 84, 26 t.
The most important design feature of the airframe is its thermal protection.
In the most heat-stressed places (design temperature up to 1430 ° C), a multilayer carbon-carbon composite is used. There are few such places, it is mainly the fuselage nose and the leading edge of the wing. The lower surface of the entire apparatus (heating from 650 to 1260 ° C) is covered with tiles made of a material based on quartz fiber. The top and side surfaces are partially protected by low-temperature insulation tiles - where the temperature is 315–650 ° C; in other places, where the temperature does not exceed 370 ° С, felt material covered with silicone rubber is used.
The total weight of all four types of thermal protection is 7164 kg.
The orbital stage has a double-deck cockpit for seven astronauts.
Shuttle upper deck
In the event of an extended flight program or when performing rescue operations, up to ten people can be on board the shuttle. In the cockpit, there are flight controls, work and sleeping places, a kitchen, a storage room, a sanitary compartment, an airlock, operations and payload control posts, and other equipment. The total pressurized volume of the cabin is 75 cubic meters. m, the life support system maintains a pressure of 760 mm Hg in it. Art. and temperature in the range of 18, 3 - 26, 6 ° С.
This system is made in an open version, that is, without the use of air and water regeneration. This choice is due to the fact that the duration of the shuttle flights was set at seven days, with the possibility of bringing it up to 30 days using additional funds. With such insignificant autonomy, the installation of regeneration equipment would mean an unjustified increase in weight, power consumption and complexity of onboard equipment.
The supply of compressed gases is enough to restore the normal atmosphere in the cabin in the event of one complete depressurization or to maintain a pressure of 42.5 mm Hg in it. Art. within 165 minutes when a small hole is formed in the hull shortly after the start.
The cargo compartment measures 18, 3 x 4, 6 m and a volume of 339, 8 cubic meters. m is equipped with a "three-knee" manipulator 15, 3 m long. When the compartment doors are opened, the radiators of the cooling system turn into the working position together with them. The reflectivity of the radiator panels is such that they remain cold even when the sun is shining on them.
What the Space Shuttle can do and how it flies
If we imagine an assembled system flying horizontally, we will see an external fuel tank as its central element; an orbiter is docked to it from above, and accelerators are on the sides. The total length of the system is 56.1 m, and the height is 23.34 m. The overall width is determined by the wingspan of the orbital stage, that is, it is 23.79 m. The maximum launch weight is about 2,041,000 kg.
It is impossible to speak so unambiguously about the size of the payload, since it depends on the parameters of the target orbit and on the launch point of the spacecraft. Here are three options. The Space Shuttle system is capable of displaying:
- 29,500 kg when launched eastward from Cape Canaveral (Florida, east coast) into an orbit with an altitude of 185 km and an inclination of 28º;
- 11 300 kg when launched from the Space Flight Center. Kennedy into an orbit with an altitude of 500 km and an inclination of 55º;
- 14,500 kg when launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base (California, west coast) into a circumpolar orbit with an altitude of 185 km.
For shuttles, two landing strips were equipped. If the shuttle landed far from the cosmodrome, it would return home on a Boeing 747
Boeing 747 takes shuttle to the cosmodrome
In total, five shuttles were built (two of them died in accidents) and one prototype.
When developing, it was envisaged that the shuttles would make 24 launches a year, and each of them would make up to 100 flights into space. In practice, they were used much less - by the end of the program in the summer of 2011, 135 launches were made, of which Discovery - 39, Atlantis - 33, Columbia - 28, Endeavor - 25, Challenger - 10 …
The shuttle's crew consists of two astronauts - the commander and the pilot. The shuttle's largest crew is eight astronauts (Challenger, 1985).
Soviet reaction to the creation of the Shuttle
The development of the "shuttle" made a great impression on the leaders of the USSR. It was considered that the Americans were developing an orbital bomber armed with space-to-ground missiles. The huge size of the shuttle and its ability to return a load of up to 14.5 tons to Earth were interpreted as a clear threat of the abduction of Soviet satellites and even Soviet military space stations such as Almaz, which flew in space under the name Salyut. These estimates were erroneous, since the United States abandoned the idea of a space bomber in 1962 in connection with the successful development of a nuclear submarine fleet and ground-based ballistic missiles.
Soyuz could easily fit in the shuttle's cargo hold
Soviet experts could not understand why 60 shuttle launches were needed a year - one launch a week! Where did the multitude of space satellites and stations for which the Shuttle would need come from? Soviet people living in a different economic system could not even imagine that the leadership of NASA, which was strenuously pushing a new space program in the government and Congress, was guided by the fear of being unemployed. The lunar program was nearing completion and thousands of highly qualified specialists were out of work. And, most importantly, the respected and very well-paid NASA executives faced a disappointing prospect of parting with their inhabited offices.
Therefore, an economic feasibility study was prepared on the great financial benefit of reusable transport spacecraft in the event of abandonment of disposable rockets. But for the Soviet people it was absolutely incomprehensible that the president and the congress could spend national funds only with great regard to the opinion of their voters. In this connection, the opinion prevailed in the USSR that the Americans were creating a new QC for some future incomprehensible tasks, most likely military ones.
Reusable spacecraft "Buran"
In the Soviet Union, it was originally planned to create an improved copy of the Shuttle - an orbital plane OS-120, weighing 120 tons. (The American shuttle weighed 110 tons at full load). Unlike the Shuttle, it was planned to equip the Buran with an ejection cockpit for two pilots and turbojet engines for landing at the airport.
The leadership of the armed forces of the USSR insisted on almost complete copying of the "shuttle". By this time, Soviet intelligence was able to obtain a lot of information on the American spacecraft. But it turned out to be not so simple. Domestic hydrogen-oxygen rocket engines turned out to be larger in size and heavier than American ones. Moreover, in terms of power, they were inferior to overseas. Therefore, instead of three rocket engines, it was necessary to install four. But on the orbital plane there was simply no room for four propulsion engines.
At the shuttle 83% of the load at the start was carried by two solid-propellant boosters. In the Soviet Union, it was not possible to develop such powerful solid-propellant missiles. Missiles of this type were used as ballistic carriers of sea and land-based nuclear charges. But they did not reach the required power very, very much. Therefore, the Soviet designers had the only opportunity - to use liquid-propellant rockets as accelerators. Under the Energia-Buran program, very successful kerosene-oxygen RD-170s were created, which served as an alternative to solid-fuel boosters.
The very location of the Baikonur cosmodrome forced the designers to increase the power of their launch vehicles. It is known that the closer the launch pad is to the equator, the greater the load one and the same rocket can put into orbit. The American cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral has a 15% advantage over Baikonur! That is, if a rocket launched from Baikonur can lift 100 tons, then it will launch 115 tons into orbit when launched from Cape Canaveral!
Geographical conditions, differences in technology, characteristics of the created engines and a different design approach - all influenced the appearance of "Buran". Based on all these realities, a new concept and a new orbital vehicle OK-92, weighing 92 tons, were developed. Four oxygen-hydrogen engines were transferred to the central fuel tank and the second stage of the Energia launch vehicle was obtained. Instead of two solid-propellant boosters, it was decided to use four rockets on liquid fuel kerosene-oxygen with four-chamber RD-170 engines. Four-chamber means four nozzles; a nozzle with a large diameter is extremely difficult to manufacture. Therefore, the designers go to the complication and weighting of the engine by designing it with several smaller nozzles. There are as many nozzles as there are combustion chambers with a bunch of fuel and oxidizer supply pipelines and all the "moorings". This link was made according to the traditional, "royal" scheme, similar to the "alliances" and "east", became the first stage of "Energy".
"Buran" in flight
The Buran cruise ship itself became the third stage of the launch vehicle, similar to the Soyuz. The only difference is that the Buran was located on the side of the second stage, and the Soyuz was at the very top of the launch vehicle. Thus, the classic scheme of a three-stage disposable space system was obtained, with the only difference that the orbiter was reusable.
Reusability was another problem of the Energia-Buran system. For the Americans, the shuttles were designed for 100 flights. For example, the engines of orbital maneuvering could withstand up to 1000 turns. After preventive maintenance, all elements (except for the fuel tank) were suitable for launching into space.
Solid propellant booster picked up by a special vessel
Solid propellant boosters were parachuted into the ocean, picked up by special NASA ships and delivered to the manufacturer's plant, where they underwent preventive maintenance and were filled with fuel. The Shuttle itself was also thoroughly tested, prevented and repaired.
Defense Minister Ustinov in an ultimatum demanded that the Energia-Buran system be maximally recyclable. Therefore, the designers were forced to tackle this problem. Formally, the side boosters were considered reusable, suitable for ten launches. But in fact, it did not come to this for many reasons. Take, for example, the fact that American accelerators flopped into the ocean, and Soviet ones fell in the Kazakh steppe, where landing conditions were not as benign as the warm ocean waters. And a liquid-propellant rocket is a more delicate creation. than solid propellant. "Buran" was also designed for 10 flights.
In general, the reusable system did not work, although the achievements were obvious. The Soviet orbiter, freed from large propulsion engines, received more powerful engines for maneuvering in orbit. Which, in the case of its use as a space "fighter-bomber", gave it great advantages. Plus turbojets for atmospheric flight and landing. In addition, a powerful rocket was created with the first stage on kerosene fuel, and the second on hydrogen. It was such a rocket that the USSR lacked to win the lunar race. In terms of its characteristics, Energia was practically equal to the American Saturn-5 rocket that sent Apollo-11 to the moon.
"BURAN" has a great external accessibility with the American "Shuttle". Korabl poctroen Po cheme camoleta tipa "bechvoctka» c treugolnym krylom peremennoy ctrelovidnocti, imeet aerodinamicheckie organy upravleniya, rabotayuschie at pocadke pocle vozvrascheniya in plotnye cloi atmocfery - wheel napravleniya and elevony. He was able to make a controlled descent in the atmosphere with a side maneuver of up to 2000 kilometers.
The length of the "Buren" is 36.4 meters, the wingspan is about 24 meters, the height of the ship on the chassis is more than 16 meters. The old mass of the ship is more than 100 tons, of which 14 tons are used for fuel. In nocovoy otcek vctavlena germetichnaya tselnocvarnaya kabina for ekipazha and bolshey chacti apparatury for obecpecheniya poleta in coctave raketno-kocmicheckogo komplekca, avtonomnogo poleta nA orbite, cpucka and pocadki. The volume of the cabin is over 70 cubic meters.
When vozvraschenii in plotnye cloi atmocfery naibolee teplonapryazhennye uchactki poverhnocti korablya rackalyayutcya do graducov 1600, zhe teplo, dohodyaschee nepocredctvenno do metallicheckoy konctruktsii korablya, ne dolzhno prevyshat 150 graducov. Therefore, "BURAN" distinguished its powerful thermal protection, providing normal temperature conditions for the design of a ship during flight in aircraft
Heat-resistant cover made of more than 38 thousand tiles, made of special materials: quartz fiber, high-performance core, no core Ceramic timber has the ability to accumulate heat, without passing it to the ship's hull. The total mass of this armor was about 9 tons.
The length of the BURANA cargo compartment is about 18 meters. In its extensive cargo compartment, it is possible to accommodate a payload with a mass of up to 30 tons. There it was possible to place large space vehicles - large satellites, blocks of orbital stations. The landing mass of the ship is 82 tons.
"BURAN" was used with all the necessary systems and equipment for both automatic and piloted flight. This and the means of navigation and control, and radiotechnical and television systems, and automatic controls for the warmth and power
Buran's cabin
The main engine installation, two groups of engines for maneuvering are located at the end of the tail section and in the front part of the frame.
In total, it was planned to build 5 orbital ships. Besides Buran, Tempest was almost ready and almost half of Baikal. Two more ships that were in the initial stage of production did not receive names. The Energia-Buran system was not lucky - it was born at an unfortunate time for it. The Soviet economy was no longer able to finance costly space programs. And some kind of fate pursued the cosmonauts who were preparing for flights on the "Buran". Test pilots V. Bukreev and A. Lysenko died in plane crashes in 1977, even before joining the cosmonaut group. In 1980, test pilot O. Kononenko died. 1988 took the lives of A. Levchenko and A. Shchukin. After the flight of "Buran" R. Stankevichus, the co-pilot for the manned flight of the winged spacecraft, died in a plane crash. I. Volk was appointed the first pilot.
The Buran was not lucky either. After the first and only successful flight, the ship was kept in a hangar at the Baikonur cosmodrome. On May 12, 2002, the overlap of the workshop in which the Buran and the Energia model were located collapsed. On this sad chord, the existence of the winged spacecraft, which had shown such great hopes, ended.
After the collapse of the floor
