Current Events > The Soviets may not have built a better Space Shuttle

(+) Yeah! (+)

But they did design a better one.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/4/AAPF7PAACtG0.jpg

This is a design known as OK-92 which was the first derivative of OK-120, which was just a direct copy of the American design.

Here is where they opted to eschew the main engines attached to the orbiter (as they werent going to have reusable hydrogen engines anytime soon anyway), and in so doing were able to do a lot of things to improve the design.

Most obvious are the included jet engines, but not so obvious is the wing mass (and thus TPS and structural as well) that was saved in addition to an actual abort system, which is what you see nestled into the rear fuselage.

This design was not only lighter than the American design and even the eventual Buran design that proceeded it, but it was more capable.

As it no longer needed to glide unpowered, it could trade wing mass for jet engines that would extend its range past the 1000nm cross-range that the Americans were getting, and in turn this would have had knock-on effects saving infrastructure and logistical costs as it would be able to land and take off from any conventional runway of suitable size.

In turn, as it had an abort system, it was obviously a similar safer design than the American Shuttle, but with the launcher being fully liquid instead of using Solids, you had additional safety.

And all the while, you're getting more payload to orbit too.

But sadly politics sucks and what would eventually be Buran was the result of a forced requirement to copy the Space Shuttle in design rather than in capabilities.

Thats been your spaceflight fact for the day :D

We killed like 20 astronauts because we were jealous of the Russians?

USA USA USA

Njolk posted...

We killed like 20 astronauts because we were jealous of the Russians?

USA USA USA

It was 14, and they died because of negligence and a permanent program-long lack of funding that made substantive safety upgrades effectively impossible.

The Russians didnt start their Shuttle program until 3 years after we did.