Category Energiya-Buran

Using the experience gained in the Skif program, KB Salyut proposed a heavy Energiya-launched space factory to produce ultra-pure semiconductor alloys and crystals. First announced in 1990, the factory was called TMP (“Technological Production Module’’) and had a launch mass of 102 tons and in-orbit mass of 88 tons. It was about 35 m long with a main diameter of just over 4 m. The spacecraft consisted of a Laboratory Compartment based on the main core cylinder of the Proton rocket’s first stage, and an Instrument Cargo Compartment derived from the FGB. Solar arrays extended from both compartments, producing 60 kW for a mission exceeding five years.

The on-board production complex, derived from that of Mir’s Kristall module, would weigh a total of 25 tons. The finished products would return to Earth in ballistic or gliding-type return capsules that could each hold up to 140 kg of materials. Robotic manipulator arms would be used to remove a capsule from storage, load it, and then transfer it to a small airlock for ejection. The TMP had two docking ports to receive Progress resupply ships and Soyuz spacecraft or air-launched MAKS space – planes, with crews being able to spend up to 10 days aboard the facility to unload supply ships and perform maintenance work. In KB Salyut’s vision, the TMP was only the final step in a phased program for space-based materials processing, which also included the launch of small 1.2-ton capsules and bigger 20-ton vehicles [61].

Although Buran was the focus of attention between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s, in the background the Russians continued working on other spaceplane concepts to either complement Buran or succeed it in the future. Many of these efforts concentrated on smaller spaceplanes that were considered to be more efficient for space station support. At the same time, looking further into the future, con­siderable research has been done into single-stage-to-orbit spaceplanes that may one day significantly reduce the cost of Earth-to-orbit transportation.

CHELOMEY’S LKS

Vladimir Chelomey’s Central Design Bureau of Machine Building (TsKBM), already engaged in spaceplane research in the early 1960s, resumed work on reusable spacecraft in the mid-1970s in response to an order by the Military Industrial Commission on 27 December 1973 to formulate proposals for reusable space trans­portation systems of different sizes (see Chapter 2). That work continued even after the February 1976 Energiya-Buran decree, with Chelomey enjoying the support of Yakob Ryabov, who was Central Committee Secretary for Defense Matters from late 1976 to 1979, succeeding Dmitriy Ustinov [1].

By 1978, after having studied numerous configurations, launch, and landing techniques for a small reusable spaceplane, Chelomey’s engineers had settled on a Light Spaceplane (LKS) to be launched by the bureau’s Proton rocket. Weighing 20 tons, it would be a delta-wing vehicle capable of carrying four tons of cargo, two tons of fuel and a crew of two. The pressurized compartment of the LKS had a volume of 16 m3 and consisted of two decks, an upper deck with the cockpit in front and a living compartment in the back, and a lower deck with support equipment. The ship would not be protected from the heat of re-entry by tiles, but rely on a different type of heat shield material said to be rated for 100 missions. It was similar to the

material used on the return capsules of Chelomey’s Transport Supply Ships (TKS), the reusability of which was demonstrated during a number of test flights in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The LKS would land on a runway at a speed of 300 km/h using a nose wheel and aft skid landing gear. The relatively low landing speed meant that it could use a wide variety of runways. The LKS had emergency escape systems allowing the crew to be saved during virtually any phase of the flight.

TsKBM worked out plans for both unmanned and manned versions of the LKS, capable of staying in orbit for up to one year and 10 days, respectively. Its missions would range from crew transport and cargo delivery to space stations to a broad array of military missions. By the end of the 1970s the LKS was seen by Chelomey as a key element in a “Star Wars’’ plan to deploy a space-based missile defense shield to protect the entire territory of the Soviet Union from nuclear attack. All this was several years before President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983.

Chelomey considered Energiya-Buran as a vastly expensive undertaking that the country could barely afford. One of his associates once quoted him as saying:

“Whereas for the Americans the expenditures on [the Space Shuttle] are

[serious], but bearable, for us [such expenditures] will plunge us into bankruptcy.

I won’t be surprised if our cosmonauts will have to fly on our shuttle naked.’’

Convinced that Buran would not be ready to fly for many more years, Chelomey pitched the LKS as a vehicle that could be ready in four years’ time.

In 1980 Chelomey took the risky move of “going public’’ with the LKS. He sent his LKS proposals directly to Leonid Brezhnev, who in response set up an inter­departmental commission headed by deputy Defense Minister V. M. Shabanov and consisting of representatives of the major design bureaus and research institutes. The commission turned down Chelomey’s proposal, calling it “cumbersome”, “difficult to realize’’, and “expensive” (terms that could have very well been applied to Buran as well).

Nevertheless, Chelomey ordered his team to clandestinely build a full-scale mock-up of the LKS in just a month’s time, a task that was successfully accom­plished. However, news of Chelomey’s underground initiative was soon leaked to the Ministry of General Machine Building, which strongly reprimanded Chelomey for having illegally spent 140,000 rubles of government money. Still undeterred, Chelomey pressed on with his LKS work and was finally stopped dead in his tracks with an official reprimand from the Communist Party.

In the political constellation of those days Chelomey stood no real chance of mustering the support needed to get LKS off the ground. His star had been waning ever since his lifelong enemy (and Glushko supporter) Dmitriy Ustinov had become Minister of Defense in 1976. In 1978 Ustinov had already been instrumental in canceling Chelomey’s Almaz military space station program. The LKS followed suit. Seated next to Chelomey in the very cockpit of the LKS mock-up during a visit to TsKBM, Ustinov made it clear to him that the LKS had no future given the amount of effort and money already invested in Energiya-Buran. Things got much worse for Chelomey in December 1981, when the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers issued a decree that banned TsKBM from any further involvement in the Soviet ballistic missile and space program, essentially ending Chelomey’s career as a missile and spacecraft designer. In a cruel twist of fate, Ustinov and Chelomey passed away only days apart in December 1984—moreover, in the same hospital. Even the LKS mock-up did not survive. It was demolished in what has been described as “an act of sabotage’’ in 1991.

With hindsight, if the Soviet space program required any type of reusable space­craft in the 1970s/1980s, the LKS probably would have been the way to go. Leaving aside its potential military applications, it could have played an important role in ferrying crews and cargo to space stations, reducing the number of Soyuz and Progress missions. Having said that, one wonders if it would have been an economic­ally advantageous system, since it relied on the expensive and expendable Proton rocket and on a heat shield that possibly required long turnaround times [2].

(Listed here are only those cosmonauts who originally were selected specifically for the Buran program)

Afanasyev, Viktor Mikhaylovich was born in Bryansk on 31 December 1948. He graduated in 1970 from the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, where Yuriy Sheffer, Aleksandr Puchkov, and Aleksandr Shchukin, all future Buran cosmonauts, had been his classmates. Following graduation, he served as an Air Force pilot until he enrolled in the Air Force’s test pilot school in 1976, graduating the following year. He subsequently worked as a test pilot in the flight test center in Akhtubinsk and in 1985 he and two colleagues were selected to join GKNII’s cosmonaut team. From 1985 until 1987 the three underwent OKP training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. After they had graduated and qualified as cosmonaut-tester, TsPK chief Vladimir Shatalov offered them a transfer to the TsPK cosmonaut detachment, which all three accepted. Afanasyev would make three long-duration space flights to Mir: Soyuz TM-11 in 1990-1991 (EO-8),

Soyuz TM-18 in 1994 (EO-15), and Soyuz TM-29 (EO-27) in 1999. He also made a short mission to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TM-33 in 2001. In total, Viktor Afanasyev logged over 545 days in space, during which he conducted seven EVAs, totalling over 38 hours. He has since retired from the cosmonaut team.

Artsebarskiy, Anatoliy Pavlovich was born on 9 September 1956 in the village of Prosyanaya, Dnepropetrovsk Region in the Ukraine. In 1977 he graduated from the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and remained there as instructor. In 1982 he transferred to the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk and graduated as a Test Pilot 3rd Class the following year. In 1985 he was selected as one of three new cosmonauts in the GKNII Buran cosmonaut group and sent to Star City for OKP. However, upon graduating in 1987, Artsebarskiy and his two colleagues accepted the offer to transfer to the TsPK cosmonaut detachment and remained in Star City. After having been for Soyuz TM-11, he went on to command Soyuz TM-12 and Mir expedition EO-9. It would be his only spaceflight. The official reason that he didn’t fly again is unknown, but it has been said that he was grounded for attending the 1992 Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers without explicit personal permission from TsPK head Pyotr Klimuk. In September 1993 he was detached to the Russian Academy of Sciences and considered a member of their cosmonaut group. When the government decided to limit the number of institutions to which military personnel could be detached, the Academy of Sciences was not among them. In July 1994 Artsebarskiy was sent to the Academy of the General Staff to study. In 1998 he retired from the Air Force.

Bachurin, Ivan Ivanovich was born on 29 January 1942 in Berestovenka in the Kharkov Region. In 1959 he entered the Orenburg Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and following graduation in 1963 he remained there as an instructor. In 1967 he enrolled in the Soviet Air Force’s Chkalov test pilot school, graduating the following year and beginning flight testing at the flight test center in Akhtubinsk. In 1973, he also graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Five years later, Bachurin was selected as one of the GKNII cosmonaut candidates to eventually fly on Buran. As senior officer, he was also named the group’s commander. In 1980, he completed OKP, becoming a cosmonaut-tester. Bachurin then began Buran – related test flying in Akhtubinsk, and in 1987-1988 was involved in the approach and landing test program on BTS-002. Together with Aleksey Boroday, Bachurin flew BTS six times, three times in the commander’s seat. He also trained as one of three GKNII cosmonauts for a Soyuz docking mission with an unmanned Buran, but that was never flown. Shortly thereafter, Bachurin was medically disqualified and left the cosmonaut group in 1992. He is retired and lives in the town of Chkalovskiy, near Star City.

Boroday, Aleksey Sergeyevich was born on 28 July 1947 in the village of Borodayevka, near Volgograd (then still called Stalingrad). After finishing school he worked in a factory but at the same time took flying lessons in a DOSAAF air club. In 1969 he graduated from the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and subsequently served as a fighter pilot in the Air Force. In 1977 he graduated from the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk and began test pilot work in GKNII. Soon, he was selected to become one of the GKNII Buran cosmonauts and together with the other candidates he was sent to Star City for the OKP basic cosmonaut training course, finishing that in 1980. In 1981, he graduated from the Akhtubinsk branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Together with Ivan Bachurin, Boroday took part in the approach and landing test flight program on Buran’s analog BTS-002, flying a total of six missions in 1987 and 1988. Later he trained as commander of one of three crews that was preparing for a Soyuz docking mission with an unmanned Buran. He left the GKNII team in 1993. Boroday returned to flying on heavy transport planes, including the Antonov An-225 Mriya while it was transporting the Buran orbiter. On 8 October 1996, he commanded an Antonov An-124 Ruslan on a cargo flight to Turin, Italy. During landing the plane lost engine thrust and hit the ground with a wingtip. The plane cartwheeled and crashed in a field near the airport, killing the co-pilot and injuring the other crew members. Boroday, who regained consciousness in a hospital after five days, lost both his legs. He still lives in Star City.

Chirkin, Viktor Martynovich was born on 13 July 1944 in Barnaul. He graduated from the Armavir Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1971 with the qualification of pilot – engineer. From 1973 he studied in Akhtubinsk at the Air Force’s test pilot school, becoming a Test Pilot 3rd Class in 1974 and a Test Pilot 2nd Class in 1977. The following year Chirkin was one of the GKNII pilots selected for Buran and was sent to Star City for OKP. He graduated in November 1980 and received his cosmonaut-tester certificate, but by then Chirkin had growing doubts that Buran had a future and decided to resign from that program and return to full­time test flying in Akhtubinsk. Eventually, he would rise to the rank of Major – General and become both a Merited Test Pilot and a Hero of the Russian Federation.

Grekov, Nikolay Sergeyevich was born in Kalinin in Kirgizia on 15 February 1950. After graduating from the Armavir Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1971, he served with the Soviet Air Defense Forces in Belorussia and in the city of Gorkiy. In May 1978 Grekov (representing the Air Defense Forces) was selected to join the 1976 Buran cosmonaut group of TsPK. As had been the case with the 1976 candidates, he was first sent to the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, from which he graduated as Test Pilot 3rd Class in July 1979. He then went on to undergo OKP basic cosmonaut training and finished that in February 1982. Shortage of qualified commanders for Soyuz and delays in the Buran program then led to the decision to transfer all members of the TsPK Buran team to the Soyuz-Salyut training group. However, in spite of this transfer, Grekov would not fly in space. After Vladimir Vasyutin had been forced to return to Earth due to illness in November 1985, all cosmonauts were given an extra physical examination. Grekov was found to have a chronic form of hepatitis and was forced to end his cosmonaut career in December 1986. He did stay on at TsPK, however, eventually becoming the head of the Search and Recovery Department. In that capacity, he was responsible not only for the recovery of crews after landing, but also for splashdown and winter survival training of cosmonauts. Grekov retired in 2004.

Ivanov, Leonid Georgyevich was born on 25 June 1950 in Safonovo near Smolensk. He attended the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and following graduation in 1971 he served in an Air Force unit in the town of Mukachevo in the Prikarpat military district. After having been selected by TsPK in 1976 to become a cosmonaut, Ivanov and his fellow cosmonaut candidates were sent to the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk. Having graduated as Test Pilot 3rd Class in 1977, the group underwent OKP in Star City until September 1978. Ivanov then became one of seven pilots to return to Akhtubinsk to obtain the title of Test Pilot 2nd Class. During this training course on 24 October 1980 Ivanov’s MiG-27 fighter went into a spin and crashed, killing the pilot. Ivanov was buried in the village of Leonikha, near Star City.

Kadenyuk, Leonid Konstantinovich was born on 28 January 1951 in what is now the city of Chernovtsi in the Ukraine. In 1971 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, becoming an Air Force pilot until he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate in 1976. Together with the other pilots from his selection group, he was sent to the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, where he graduated as a Test Pilot 3rd Class in June 1977. He then took the OKP basic cosmonaut training course at TsPK, qualifying as a cosmonaut-tester in September 1978. Next, Kadenyuk and a number of other cosmonauts from his group returned to Akhtubinsk and continued their test pilot training. In 1981 he finished that and became a Test Pilot 2nd Class. The group returned to TsPK and began Buran-related training, but in March 1983 Kadenyuk’s divorce resulted in his dismissal from the cosmonaut detachment. He subsequently returned to GKNII in Akhtubinsk to work as a test pilot. In December 1988 he managed to be included in the GKNII Buran cosmonaut team and was assigned as one of three commanders to train for a Soyuz mission that was to dock with an unmanned Buran. Despite cancellation of that flight, Kadenyuk didn’t give up his dream of flying in space. After the break-up of the Soviet Union he moved to the Ukraine and became a pilot in the Air Force. When the United States signed a contract with the Ukraine to fly a Ukrainian astronaut on the Space Shuttle, Kadenyuk applied for the Ukrainian cosmonaut team. In November 1996 Kadenyuk was assigned as payload specialist for Space Shuttle mission STS-87.

He flew a 15 day 16 hour mission on the Shuttle Columbia from 19 November until 5 December 1987. All in all, he had waited 21 years and 3 months since he had first been selected as a cosmonaut. With that Kadenyuk holds the record for time elapsed between initial selection and the first spaceflight.

Kononenko, Oleg Grigoryevich was born on 16 August 1938 in the village of Samarskoye in the Rostov Region. In 1958 he graduated from the DOSAAF school in Saransk and became a pilot instructor. In 1965 he entered the Ministry of the Aviation Industry’s test pilot school in Zhukovskiy, graduating a year later from the helicopter branch. In addition, in 1975 he graduated from the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Kononenko was selected by LII for Buran training in 1977 and began his OKP at TsPK in 1979. Kononenko was in the middle of his final exams when his Yak-38 jet crashed in the South China Sea on 8 August 1980.

The vertical take-off and landing jet lost engine power shortly after take-off from the aircraft carrier Minsk. Kononenko, who had been a Merited Test Pilot of the Soviet Union, didn’t manage to eject in time and was killed instantly. Although he received the Order of Lenin (his second) posthumously, he did not get the title of cosmonaut-tester posthumously, as he had not yet passed all his final exams at that time.

Levchenko, Anatoliy Semyonovich was born on 21 May 1941 in Krasnokutsk, near Kharkov in the Ukraine. Eager to become a pilot, he enrolled in the Kremenchug Higher Air Force Pilot School, but it was closed a year later and he finished his pilot education at the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, where he was a classmate of future cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk. Upon graduation he served for five years as a MiG-21 pilot in Turkmenistan, and then left the Air Force to enroll in the test pilot school of the Ministry of the Aviation Industry in Zhukovskiy. He graduated in 1971, becoming a test pilot at LII. In 1977 Levchenko was one of the pilots selected to undergo cosmonaut training for the Buran flight test program. He was also one of the pilots who flew approach and landing tests on BTS-002, conducting four flights. As he was the designated back­up commander for Buran’s first manned orbital mission, Levchenko first acted as back-up to Igor Volk for the Soyuz T-12 mission to Salyut-7 in 1984 and then went on to fly an eight-day mission to the Mir space station on Soyuz TM-4 in December 1987. However, several months after his flight he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, from which he died on 6 August 1988.

Maksimenko, Valeriy Yevgenyevich was born on 16 July 1950 in Tyumen. He graduated from secondary school in 1967 and went to the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, where he studied until 1971. Upon graduating, he remained there as a pilot instructor. In 1977 he enrolled in the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, becoming a test pilot the following year. After having been selected to become a cosmonaut in the GKNII group, he followed the OKP basic cosmonaut training course at TsPK from 1989 until 1991. At the same time, he continued test flight work for the Air Force, almost exclusively in high-performance fighter aircraft like the MiG-29 and Su-27. When he came to the conclusion that his future was not in the Buran program, he requested to be allowed to return to full-time test flying, a request that was granted. In January 1993 he became the head of the GKNII test pilot school (TsPLI).

Manakov, Gennadiy Mikhaylovich was born on 1 June 1950 in Yefimovka, in the Orenburg Region. He graduated from the Armavir Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1973 and remained there for two years as an instructor. After that he served in Kamchatka and in the Moscow military district.

In 1979 he was admitted to the Chkalov test pilot school of the Soviet Air Force in Akhtubinsk, graduating in 1980. He was assigned as a test pilot of fighter planes, at the same time taking a course at the Akhtubinsk branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute, from which he graduated in 1985. In August of that year, Manakov was one of three test pilots who were assigned to GKNII’s Buran cosmonaut group. They underwent OKP training in Star City until 1987, but upon graduation were offered to stay in Star City as members of TsPK’s cosmonaut detachment. Manakov accepted the offer and began mission training for Soyuz flights to the Mir space station. Eventually, he would fly to Mir on Soyuz TM-10 in 1990 (EO-7) and Soyuz TM-16 in 1993 (EO – 13), logging a total of 310 days in space. In addition, he conducted three EVAs, spending more than 12 hours outside the station. Manakov was training for the Soyuz TM-24/EO-22 mission in 1996, when he was medically disqualified and grounded. In July 2000 he retired from the Air Force.

Moskalenko, Nikolay Tikhonovich was born on 1 January 1949 in the village of Goragorskiy, in the Chechen-Ingush Republic of the Russian Federation. From 1966 until 1970 he attended the Yeysk Higher Military Aviation School, and upon graduating he served in the Air Force, until he was selected as part of the 1976 TsPK intake. Having first been trained as military test pilots until June 1977, the group took OKP between October 1977 and September 1978. Moskalenko was then sent back to Akhtubinsk for further test pilot training and, after becoming a Test Pilot 2nd Class

Sovetskiye і rossiyskiye kosmonavty

in 1981, he returned to TsPK for mission training as a cosmonaut. He was assigned to the third crew of what eventually became Soyuz T-14, but he would never fly in space himself. His divorce resulted in his expulsion from the cosmonaut detachment in June 1986. Moskalenko returned to test flying in Akhtubinsk until he left the Air Force in June 1990. He died after a long illness on 26 November 2004.

Mosolov, Vladimir Yemelyanovich was born in Kaliningrad (now Korolyov) near Moscow on 22 February 1944. He enrolled in the Tambov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, from which he graduated in 1967. After that he served in long-range aircraft units. In 1976 Mosolov graduated from the Soviet Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk and became a test pilot at GKNII. When the Air Force began looking for a group of test pilots to fly on Buran, Mosolov was one of the eight candidates selected. In 1979 the group went to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center to undergo OKP, with five members graduating in 1980. The following year Mosolov also graduated from the Akhtubinsk branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. For a number of years, Mosolov did Buran- related test flying until he was dismissed from the cosmonaut group in 1987 because of his divorce. He returned to regular test flying and left the Air Force in 1995 to work for private aviation companies.

Polonskiy, Anatoliy Borisovich was born on 1 January 1956 in the village of Pogranichnik in Kazakhstan. In 1977 he graduated from the Orenburg Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and served as a pilot in units of the Baltic Fleet until 1985, when he enrolled in the test pilot school in Akhtubinsk. He graduated in 1986 and went to work as a test pilot for GKNII. In February 1988 Polonskiy was selected as one of the new GKNII cosmonaut candidates to undergo OKP training in TsPK, qualifying as a cosmonaut – tester in April 1991. However, as Buran never flew in space again, Polonskiy became occupied full-time with test flying and operational flying of heavy transport aircraft, becoming a squadron commander in GKNII. Among the planes Polonskiy flew was the largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-225 Mriya. He lives in Chkalovskiy near Star City.

Prikhodko, Yuriy Viktorovich was born on 15 November 1953 in Dushanbe, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Tadzhikistan in Central Asia. After graduating from secondary school he worked as a laboratory assistant for a short time, before enrolling in the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1971, where he was a classmate of Sergey Tresvyatskiy. Upon graduation in 1975, he remained at the school as a pilot instructor until he resigned his commission from the Air Force and enrolled in the Ministry of the Aviation Industry’s test pilot school in Zhukovskiy. Upon graduation in 1986 he became a Test Pilot 3rd Class and began test flying different types of aircraft. At the same time, in the evenings, he studied at the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute, graduating in 1989. The previous year, he had been selected to join the LII cosmonaut team and in 1989 he began OKP, passing his final exam on 28 March 1991 and earning the qualification of cosmonaut-tester. By that time, however, it was becoming clear that Buran would probably not fly again. After having worked as a test pilot for twelve years, he left LII in 1998 and went to the United States, where he worked as an exchange pilot in California. His dream was to earn a green card and stay in the US, possibly even as a test pilot for NASA, but on 27 July 2001, he died from cancer, only 47 years old. He is buried in the town of Ostrovtsy, not far from Zhukovskiy.

Protchenko, Sergey Filippovich was born on 3 January 1947 in the village of Senitskiy in the Bryansk Region. In 1969 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and then served as a pilot in the Air Force until 1976, when he was one of nine pilots selected to become cosmonauts for the TsPK cosmonaut detachment. Protchenko and his eight fellow pilots were sent to Akhtubinsk to be trained as test pilots at GKNII. Upon earning the qualification of Test Pilot 3rd Class, Protchenko proceeded to take the OKP basic cosmonaut training course at TsPK, which he successfully concluded in 1978. He was then one of the seven group members who were sent back to Akhtubinsk for further training as test pilots. It was during this second course in Akhtubinsk in 1978 that Protchenko failed a medical and was dismissed from the cosmonaut team. In August 1986 he also retired from the Air Force with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Puchkov, Aleksandr Sergeyevich was born on 15 October 1948 in the town of Medyn in the Kaluga Region. In 1966, Puchkov enrolled in the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in Volgograd, where three more future Buran cosmonauts, Viktor Afanasyev, Yuriy Sheffer, and Aleksandr Shchukin, were his classmates. Upon graduation Puchkov and Sheffer both worked as pilot instructors. In 1977, Puchkov finished his test pilot course at the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk and stayed there to work as a test pilot. In 1989 he was selected to undergo OKP training in order to become a cosmonaut in GKNII’s Buran cosmonaut group. Puchkov graduated in 1991, although he had continued his test pilot work during OPK. His Buran career ended in November 1996 when the GKNII cosmonaut team was officially disbanded. In June 1997, he retired from the Air Force and went to work for VPK MAPO, a company in which a number of design bureaus had merged to produce MiG fighter aircraft. Puchkov became a department head in VPK MAPO.

Pushenko, Nikolay Alekseyevich was born on 10 August 1952 in the village of Povalikha in the Altay Region. He graduated from the Barnaul Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1974, and subsequently served in Air Force units until 1982, when he was admitted to the Air Force test pilot school in Akthubinsk. He graduated in 1983 and became a GKNII test pilot. In 1989 he was selected as one of six new Buran cosmonaut candidates for the GKNII team and from 1989 until April 1991 he underwent OKP in Star City.

When it became clear that Buran would never fly again, Pushenko requested a transfer to the TsPK cosmonaut detachment, but, although his commander had promised him the transfer, this never took place for unknown reasons. After the GKNII cosmonaut team was disbanded in November 1996, Pushenko returned to test flying until he retired from the Air Force in 1998. In 2000 he began working for the State Research Institute for Civil Aviation at Sheremetyevo Airport outside Moscow.

Saley, Yevgeniy Vladimirovich was born on 1 January 1950 in Tavda in the Sverdlovsk Region. He studied at the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School from 1967 until 1971 and after graduation worked there as an instructor. Later, he was stationed at Air Force units in Poland and Uzbekistan. In 1975 he applied for enrollment in the Gagarin Air Force Academy in Monino, but instead was offered to undergo the selection procedure to become a cosmonaut. In 1976, Saley was selected by TsPK and together with the other group members spent the next nine months in test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, graduating as a Test Pilot 3rd Class. After an additional parachute course, the group then took OKP in Star City, and upon graduating as cosmonaut-testers in September 1978, seven group members, including Saley, returned to Akhtubinsk. Saley graduated as Test Pilot 2nd Class in June 1981. After their return to Star City, they were moved over to the Soyuz-Salyut group, given the shortage of commanders for Soyuz and the delays Buran was facing. Saley trained as a back-up crew member for Soyuz T-14 in 1984-1985. He would undoubtedly have been assigned as prime crew member for a subsequent Soyuz mission, but reportedly had a falling-out with cosmonaut training chief Vladimir Shatalov over crew assignments, after which Shatalov immediately grounded him. He left the cosmonaut team in October 1987. He went on to become deputy director of the Chkalov Central Flying Club in Moscow. Saley still lives in Star City.

Sattarov, Nail Sharipovich was born on 23 December 1941 in the village of Kabakovo in Bashkiria. In 1967 he graduated from the Orenburg Higher Aviation Military Pilot School, and stayed on there as an instructor until he was invited to train at the Air Force test pilot school in Akhtubinsk. In 1978 Sattarov was one of the eight pilots selected by GKNII to fly Buran. In April 1980, before ending his OKP training, he left the training group, reportedly because he had violated safety rules by making a roll maneuver in a Tupolev Tu-134 passenger jet. Sattarov was also grounded for a short period but eventually went back to test flying in Akhtubinsk. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and in 1993 left GKNII and the Air Force, becoming a test pilot for the Tupolev design bureau in Zhukovskiy.

Shchukin, Aleksandr Vladimirovich was born on 19 January 1946 in Vienna, where his father was serving in the Soviet army when it was occupying Austria after the war. In 1966 Shchukin enrolled in the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in Volgograd, where Viktor Afanasyev, Yuriy Sheffer, and Aleksandr Puchkov were among his classmates. After graduating in 1970 he served for five years in the former German Democratic Republic.

In 1975 Shchukin, then a Major, left the Air Force and enrolled in the Ministry of the Aviation Industry test pilot school in Zhukovksiy. In June 1977 he graduated as a Test Pilot 3rd Class and began working at LII in Zhukovskiy. Soon afterwards he was included in the first selection group to train as cosmonauts for the Buran program. He underwent basic cosmonaut training at TsPK without interrupting his test pilot work and upon graduation was awarded the title of cosmonaut-tester. During the approach and landing test program from 1985 until 1988 Shchukin flew seven times on Buran’s analog BTS-002. He also served as back-up to Anatoliy Levchenko on Soyuz TM-4. On 18 August 1988 Shchukin was killed when his Sukhoy Su-26 sports plane crashed during a test flight.

Sheffer, Yuriy Petrovich was born on 30 June 1947 in Chelyabinsk. He attended the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in Volgograd, where he studied in the same class as Aleksandr Shchukin, Viktor Afanasyev, and Aleksandr Puchkov, graduating in 1970. He remained as an instructor, and had another future colleague, Sergey Tresvyatskiy, as one of his students. Sheffer left the Air Force in 1975 and enrolled in the civilian test pilot school of the Ministry of the Aviation Industry in Zhukovskiy. Upon graduation in 1977 he became a test pilot at the Tupolev design bureau, moving to the Flight Research Institute in 1985. In 1980 he completed a graduate degree at the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Sheffer was selected as a member of the LII cosmonaut team in 1985 and underwent OKP, graduating in 1987. He conducted Buran-related flight testing, but in the end, no manned missions would take place. While the cosmonaut team dispersed, Yuriy Sheffer remained at LII. He retired as a cosmonaut in early 2001, but became a department head while continuing his duties as a test pilot. On 5 June 2001 he died of a heart attack while in his office.

Sokovykh, Anatoliy Mikhaylovich was born on 12 January 1944 in Skovorodino in the Amur Region. He graduated from the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1966, and subsequently served as a pilot in the former German Democratic Republic. In 1973 he enrolled in the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, graduating as a Test Pilot 3rd Class the following year. In 1978 he was selected as one of the pilots to form the GKNII Buran cosmonaut team. He underwent OKP in Star City in 1979 and 1980, qualifying as cosmonaut-tester. However, he didn’t get involved in any Buran mission training. In 1985 he was involved in an accident for which he was blamed. As a consequence, he left the cosmonaut group, although he remained in Akhtubinsk, test flying for GKNII, until his retirement in 1999. In 1994 he was awarded the title of Merited Test Pilot of the

Solovyov, Anatoliy Yakovlevich was born in Riga (Latvia) on 16 January 1948. He graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1972 and then served as a pilot in the Far East until 1976, when he was selected as a TsPK cosmonaut. He trained in Akhtubinsk to become a Test Pilot 3rd Class. After his OKP he returned to Akhtubinsk and became a Test Pilot 2nd Class. He was subsequently transferred to the space station training groups. His first spaceflight came in 1988 as commander of Soyuz TM-5, a Soviet-Bulgarian visiting mission to the Mir space station. He subsequently flew four more missions, all long-duration expeditions to Mir: Soyuz TM-9 (EO-6) in 1990, Soyuz TM-15 (EO-12) in 1992-1993, STS-71 (EO-19) in 1995, and Soyuz TM-26 (EO-24) in 1997-1998. For the third of these four, Solovyov and his flight engineer Gennadiy Strekalov were launched on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1995 on its first docking mission with the station under the joint Shuttle-Mir program. Solovyov was slated to fly the first expedition mission to the International Space Station, but when it became clear to him that not he, but American astronaut Bill Shepherd would be the commander, he declined the assignment. With five flights as commander, a flight experience of 651 days in orbit, and 16 EVAs totaling more than 82 hours under his belt, he refused to be subordinate to an American who had flown only three missions, none as commander, with a total of fewer than 19 days and no EVA experience at all. He reportedly was offered to become the commander of TsPK after Pyotr Klimuk’s retirement but declined the offer. Solovyov has since retired from the Air Force and gone into business.

Stankyavichus, Rimantas Antanas-Antano was born in Mariyampole in Lithuania on 26 July 1944. In 1966 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School and then served in Soviet Air Force units in Poland, Central Asia, and Egypt, where he flew 25 combat missions during the Six-Day Israeli-Arab war of 1967. In 1972 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. The next year Stankyavichus left the Air Force and enrolled in the Ministry of the Aviation Industry test pilot school in Zhukovskiy, graduating in 1975. Three years later, he was selected as one of five LII pilots to undergo cosmonaut training for the Buran program. Stankyavichus became one of the principal members of the LII cosmonaut team, flying a total of 13 approach and landing test flights on BTS-002 between 1985 and 1988. He was also LII’s prime candidate to occupy the co-pilot seat on Buran’s first manned orbital mission. In 1989 he was assigned to a Soyuz mission to Mir in order to prepare him for his future Buran mission, but later that year he was dropped from the crew because of changes in the Mir flight schedule. Stankyavichus returned to test flying and was killed on 9 September 1990 when his Sukhoy Su-27 crashed during a demonstration flight in Italy.

Sultanov, Ural Nazibovich was born on 18 November 1948 in the village of Nikifarovo in Bashkiria. He attended the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, and after graduating in 1971 remained there as a pilot instructor. In 1983 he joined LII’s cosmonaut group and undertook OKP from 1985 until 1987, when he was awarded his cosmonaut – tester certificate. From April until November 1988 Sultanov joined several other LII cosmonauts at Baykonur, flying MiG-25 jets and Tupolev Tu-154LL flying laboratories in Buran approach and landing profiles. When Buran made its only spaceflight, he was Magomed Tolboyev’s back-up as MiG-25 chase pilot. At the same time, he continued his other test pilot duties at LII. Sultanov left LII in March 2002, becoming an Ilyushin Il-18 pilot for an aviation company named after Valentina Grizodubova, a famous female pilot in the Soviet Union. Currently, he is the deputy chief of Bashkir Airlines.

Titov, Vladimir Georgyevich was born on 1 January 1947 in Sretensk in the Chita Region. After graduating from secondary school, he enrolled in the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School. Upon graduating he remained there as an instructor until 1974. From 1974 until his selection to the TsPK cosmonaut detachment in 1976, he served in the Seryogin Regiment, TsPK’s air wing at Chkalovskiy air base near Star City. After selection in 1976 Titov and his fellow selectees were first sent to the Air Force test pilot school in Akhtubinsk to become Test Pilots 3rd Class. They underwent OKP from October 1977 until September 1978. When it became clear that Buran was suffering delays and there was a growing shortage of Soyuz commanders, some of the group were transferred to the Soyuz-Salyut program. Titov would fly four missions. His first, on Soyuz T-8 in April 1983, had to be cut short because his ship failed to dock with Salyut-7. The next attempt almost ended in disaster in September 1983 when his launch vehicle caught fire and exploded on the launch pad. Titov’s Soyuz was pulled away to safety by the launch escape system with seconds to spare. Following this almost fatal accident, Titov and his flight engineer on both occasions, Gennadiy Strekalov, were separated. They were considered an unlucky crew. Paired with a new engineer, Musa Manarov, and with LII cosmonaut Anatoliy Levchenko in the third seat, Titov flew Soyuz TM-4 to the Mir station in 1987 for the first mission that would spend over a year in orbit: 365 days and 22 hours. His third and fourth missions were both on the Space Shuttle. He was a mission specialist on STS-63 in 1995, the dress rehearsal rendezvous mission with Mir. The Shuttle didn’t dock with the station on that occasion, but on Titov’s second shuttle mission, STS-86 in 1997, Atlantis did dock. During the docked phase, Titov and NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski performed a five-hour EVA. Following the flight, Titov retired from the cosmonaut detachment and the Russian Air Force to become Boeing’s representative in Moscow. On his four missions, Vladimir Titov logged a total of 387 days in space. He performed four EVAs, totaling a little under 19 hours.

Tokarev, Valeriy Ivanovich was born on 29 October 1952 in Kapustin Yar, where his father was serving on the missile launch base. In 1969 he finished secondary school in Rostov and in 1973 he graduated from the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, after which he began service in the Air Force. In 1981 he began studying at the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk, graduating in 1982 and becoming a test pilot at GKNII. Selected for the Buran program, Tokarev underwent OKP from 1989 until 1991, without interrupting his test pilot work. Like Leonid Kadenyuk, Valeriy Tokarev had set his mind on flying in space, if not on Buran, then on another spacecraft. When it became clear that Buran would not fly, he requested a transfer to the TsPK cosmonaut team. On 29 July 1997 the State Interdepartmental Commission agreed to the transfer and as early as December 1998, Tokarev was assigned as the Russian mission specialist for Space Shuttle mission STS-96. As such, he flew on Discovery to the International Space Station between 27 May and 6 June 1999. From August 2001 he trained as flight engineer for ISS Expedition 8, but then lost his prime crew assignment as a result of the crew reshuffling that took place after the February 2003 Columbia accident. Instead, he was reassigned as Expedition 8 back-up commander. His next assignment was as Soyuz commander and ISS flight engineer for Expedition 10, but when his commander Bill McArthur was temporarily grounded for medical reasons, the crew was replaced and moved down the line. Once McArthur was returned to flight status, he and Tokarev were teamed up again and assigned as back-up crew for Expedition 10. The two were eventually launched as the Expedition 12 crew from Baykonur on 30 September 2005. After a successful mission of almost 190 days, during which he performed two EVAs, Tokarev and his crew landed their Soyuz safely in Kazakhstan. In late 2006, he was preparing for new flight assignments.

Tolboyev, Magomed Omarovich was born on 20 January 1951 in the Dagestan Soviet autonomous republic in the Caucasus. In 1969 he enrolled in the Yeysk Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, from which he graduated in 1973. After that he served in Air Force units until 1980. In 1976 he tried to get selected as a cosmonaut in the TsPK cosmonaut detachment but didn’t pass the medical commission because of a spine trauma he had suffered in an accident with a Sukhoy Su-7B. He made another attempt in 1979 but again failed the medical commission, this time because of a foot injury that was the result of another ejection from a plane. In 1980 Tolboyev left the Air Force and enrolled in the Ministry of the Aviation Industry test pilot school in Zhukovskiy. Upon graduation in 1981 he began working for LII. In 1983 he was selected to the LII cosmonaut group for Buran, and the following year he graduated from the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Tolboyev followed the OKP basic cosmonaut training course between 1985 and 1987, qualifying as cosmonaut-tester. From April until November 1988 Tolboyev flew Buran approach and landing profiles on the Tupolev Tu-154LL flying laboratory and on MiG-25 jets. He acted as a chase plane pilot during the launch and landing of Buran on its one and only mission on 15 November 1988. His MiG-25 is the one visible in the well-known video of the orbiter’s roll-out after landing. For some time he was slated to become Igor Volk’s co-pilot on Buran’s first manned mission. After resigning from LII, Tolboyev entered politics in 1994, becoming a representative for the Republic of Dagestan in the State Duma. In 1997 he became president of the biennial MAKS air show in Zhukovskiy.

Tresvyatskiy, Sergey Nikolayevich was born in the town of Nizhne-Udinsk in the Irkutsk Region on 6 May 1954. After graduating from secondary school in 1971, he enrolled in the Kachinskoye Higher Military Aviation Pilot School. There his future colleague Yuriy Sheffer was one of his instructors and Yuriy Prikhodko was a classmate. From 1975 until 1980 he was assigned as a pilot in the former German Democratic Republic and later he was stationed in the Far East. In 1981 Tresvyatskiy left the Air Force and enrolled in the Ministry of the Aviation Industry test pilot school in Zhukovskiy. Upon graduation in 1983, he became a test pilot at the Flight Research Institute. In 1985 he graduated from the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute, where he had attended evening classes. That same year he was included in the LII cosmonaut team that was preparing for spaceflights on Buran. He followed the OKP training at TsPK from 1985 until 1987, when he received the qualification of cosmonaut-tester. From April until November 1988 Tresvyatskiy worked at the Baykonur cosmodrome, rehearsing pre-landing maneuvers, runway approaches, and landings using the Tupolev Tu – 154LL and MiG-25 jet aircraft. While it became clear that the Buran program was dying, Sergey Tresvyatskiy stayed on as a test pilot at LII. Besides that, he also performed demonstration flights on the MiG-29. He became world famous when his MiG collided in mid-air with his colleague’s during an air show at RAF Fairford on 24 July 1993. Both pilots were able to eject and survived unharmed. Especially Tresvyatskiy’s cool reaction after he had landed was the talk of the town. After he had removed his parachute, he simply lit up a cigarette and walked away to meet the emergency services that were hurrying toward the place where he had come down. Tresvyatskiy later was placed in charge of LII’s Ramenskoye airfield in Zhukovskiy. In 2004 he became the last of the Buran pilots to leave LII and went on to become general director of the Samara Scientific and Technical Complex (the former Kuznetsov design bureau), which develops the NK series of aircraft and rocket engines.

Vasyutin, Vladimir Vladimirovich was born on 8 March 1952 in Kharkov in the Ukraine. He studied at the Kharkov Higher Air Force School from 1970 until 1974, and upon graduation was assigned as pilot instructor there until he was selected as a TsPK cosmonaut candidate in 1976. He was first sent to the test pilot school in Akhtubinsk to become a Test Pilot 3rd Class. Subsequently, he took the basic cosmonaut training course at TsPK to qualify him as a cosmonaut-tester. Unlike the other cosmonauts from his group, Vasyutin and Vladimir Titov were not sent back to Akhtubinsk for further test pilot training, but were transferred to the Soyuz-Salyut program. After three back-up assignments (Soyuz T-7, Soyuz T-10, and Soyuz T-12), Vasyutin was finally launched aboard Soyuz T-14 in September 1985. However, after a few weeks aboard the Salyut-7 space station Vasyutin became ill and, when treatment on board didn’t help, Mission Control was forced to cut his mission short. Upon his return, Vasyutin was hospitalized, but, although he fully recovered, he never flew in space again. He retired from the cosmonaut team and went back to the Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General and became Deputy Commander of the Gagarin Air Force Academy in Monino. Vasyutin passed away on 19 July 2002.

Viktorenko, Aleksandr Stepanovich was born on 29 March 1947 in Olginka in Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Orenburg Higher Aviation Pilot School in 1969, after which he served as an Ilyushin Il-28 pilot in the Baltic Fleet. In May 1978 Viktorenko (representing the Navy) was one of two additional candidates selected to join the 1976 Buran cosmonaut group of TsPK. Like the 1976 candidates, he was first sent to Akhtubinsk in order to qualify as a military test pilot. He graduated as Test Pilot 3rd Class in July 1979 and then went on to OKP basic cosmonaut training, finishing that in February 1982. Shortage of qualified commanders for Soyuz and delays in the Buran program then led to the decision to transfer all members of the TsPK Buran team to the Soyuz-Salyut training group. Eventually, Viktorenko would fly four missions to the Mir space station (Soyuz TM-3, Soyuz TM-8, Soyuz TM-14,

Soyuz TM-20), logging a total of 489 days in orbit. He also spent almost 18 hours outside the spacecraft during six EVAs. In July 1997 Viktorenko retired from both the cosmonaut team and the Air Force.

Volk, Igor Petrovich was born in the city of Zmiyev in the Kharkov Region in the Ukraine on 12 April 1937. He attended the Military Aviation Pilot School in Kirovograd in the Ukraine, graduating as a bomber pilot. He was then stationed in Baku where he flew Tupolev Tu-16 and Ilyushin Il-28 bombers. In 1962 Volk left the Air Force and from 1963 underwent test pilot training at the Ministry of the Aviation Industry test pilot school in Zhukovskiy, graduating in 1965. Volk’s first involvement in the manned space program was in that same year, when he was a pilot on the Tupolev Tu-104 in which cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Aleksey Leonov flew parabolic flights to train for Leonov’s EVA on Voskhod-2. In 1969 he graduated from the Zhukovskiy branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute, and in 1975 he was a member of the examination board that passed his future crewmate Svetlana Savitskaya as a test pilot. In 1976 Volk performed a brief flight on the 105.11 atmospheric test bed of the Spiral spaceplane. In 1977 Volk was selected as one of the pilots to undergo cosmonaut training in preparation for the initial test flight program for Buran. He flew 12 times on Buran’s analog BTS-002. Volk was the designated commander for Buran’s first manned orbital mission. In order to get the mandatory spaceflight experience and see what the influence of spaceflight on his piloting skills would be, he made a spaceflight on Soyuz T-12 in July 1984. Igor Volk became a deputy head of LII in 1995, but left the institute in February 2002 for a position in private industry. He lives in Moscow.

Volkov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich was born on 27 April 1948 in Gorlovka in the Donetsk Region in the Ukraine. He enrolled in the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in 1966, and, upon graduation in 1970, he stayed as an instructor until he was selected as a TsPK cosmonaut candidate in 1976. After his selection Volkov and the other eight candidates were sent to Akhtubinsk to qualify as Test Pilots 3rd Class. After finishing OKP in September 1978, Volkov returned to Akhtubinsk and in 1981 he became a Test Pilot 2nd Class. After that he was transferred to the Soyuz-Salyut program. Volkov subsequently made three spaceflights, one to Salyut-7 in 1985 (Soyuz T-14) and two to Mir in 1988-1989 (Soyuz TM-7) and 1991-1992 (Soyuz TM-13). In total he logged 391 days in orbit. He also conducted two EVAs, spending more than 10 hours outside the spacecraft. Volkov has held various management positions at TsPK, among them commander of the cosmonaut team from 1990 until 1998.

Yablontsev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich was born on 3 April 1955 in Warsaw (Poland) where his father was stationed. After graduating from secondary school in 1972, he enrolled in the Armavir Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, where he studied until graduating in 1976. He subsequently served in various Air Force units before entering the Air Force’s test pilot school in Akhtubinsk. After graduation in 1985 he worked there as a test pilot. In January 1989 the State Interdepartmental Commission confirmed Yablontsev and five colleagues as cosmonauts in the GKNII team. They underwent OKP in Star City without interrupting their test flight work, and in 1991 they passed their exams, qualifying as cosmonaut-testers. In 1989 he had also successfully concluded a course at the Akhtubinsk branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute. In September 1996 TsPK’s commander Pyotr Klimuk offered him a transfer to the TsPK cosmonaut team, but Yablontsev declined, feeling that flying on Soyuz wasn’t really flying. In 1997 he retired from the Air Force and, like Nikolay Pushenko, became a civilian test pilot at the State Research Institute for Civil Aviation.

Zabolotskiy, Viktor Vasilyevich was born on 19 April 1946 in Moscow. He began flying in the First Moscow Flying Club in 1964, and went on to study for two years (1967-1969) in DOSAAF’s Central Joint Flying and Technical School.

After graduating, he worked in Kaluga as a pilot instructor on the MiG-15 and MiG-17. In 1973 he was admitted to the test pilot school in Zhukovskiy. He graduated two years later and began working as a test pilot for LII. In 1981 Zabolotskiy graduated from the Academy of Civil Aviation in Leningrad. He joined the LII Buran team in 1984 and underwent OKP in Star City between 1985 and 1987. In 1988 Zabolotskiy was scheduled to fly a MiG-25 chase plane during the landing phase of Buran’s only spaceflight, but this assignment was canceled when he was assigned to the commission that investigated the Su-26 crash that had killed Aleksandr Shchukin. In 1989 Zabolotskiy became a Merited Test Pilot of the Soviet Union. It was also in that period that he was assigned as Rimantas Stankyavichus’s backup for a familiarization spaceflight on a Soyuz, but this flight would never take place. Viktor Zabolotskiy left LII in late 1996 to become a test pilot for the Khrunichev Center and also became head of the Russian Federation for Aviation Amateurs.

Even as officials were still pondering over the need to respond to the Space Shuttle, specialists were already busy figuring out what the Soviet equivalent should look like. Glushko had not come to NPO Energiya empty-handed. He and his engineers at Energomash had devised plans for a new family of heavy-lift launch vehicles called RLA, which stood for “Rocket Flying Apparatus”. This was the same term that Glushko had used for some experimental liquid-fuel boosters he had developed way back in the early 1930s while working for the Gas Dynamics Laboratory in Lenin­grad. In Glushko’s original vision, the Soviet shuttle was going to be just one payload for the RLA family.

With Glushko’s background in engine development, it was logical that his initial efforts at NPO Energiya focused mainly on launch vehicles. Until then he had only concentrated on designing and building the rocket engines themselves, with other design bureaus (Korolyov, Chelomey, Yangel) being responsible for building the rockets that were powered by those engines. Now, with the merger of Energomash and TsKBEM, Glushko received the infrastructure and workforce to design not only engines, but also the rockets themselves.

The RLA plan revolved around two key concepts. First, it required the development of a new generation of powerful rocket engines using liquid oxygen (LOX) as oxidizer, and kerosene and hydrogen as fuel. Second, it envisaged the use of standardized rocket stages that could be assembled into different configurations tailored to the specific payloads to be placed into orbit.

The name Buran was first publicly applied to the orbiter individually when the TASS news agency announced the launch date for the first mission on 23 October 1988. Actually, the name originally painted on the first flight vehicle had been “Baykal” (after the famous Siberian lake), but this was later erased. Strictly speaking, Buran had now become the name of the vehicle that made the one and only Soviet shuttle flight on 15 November 1988, placing it on an equal footing with NASA’s Shuttle Orbiter names Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. However, since Buran was the only vehicle ever flown, the name later also began to be used for Soviet orbiters in general, as it will be in this book.

It is not known what official names the other vehicles would have been given had they ever flown. The only other ship that came close to flying was sometimes referred to in the press as “Buran-2’’, but it is unclear if this would have become its official name. A persistent myth is that it was called Ptichka (“Birdie”), which actually was a general nickname for Soviet orbiters that somehow got misinterpreted by Western journalists as being the name of the second orbiter. There is some speculation that it was to be dubbed Burya (“Storm”), continuing a tradition of naming orbiters and some heavy-lift launch vehicles and their upper stages after violent natural phenom­ena. Burya, incidentally, had also been the name of the Lavochkin bureau’s cruise missile that won the competition from Myasishchev’s Buran back in the 1950s. Presumably, the Russians would have given this matter serious thought only if the second orbiter had entered final launch preparations, which it never did. No name was ever painted on this vehicle and therefore it can be said that it was never officially named.

The individual vehicles did have designators comparable with the OV designators of the US Shuttle Orbiters (OV-099, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105). Buran was 1K, the second orbiter was 2K, the third one 3K, etc. These designators also appeared in the mission designations. The first flight of orbiter 1K was 1K1, the (planned) first flight of orbiter 2K was 2K1, etc. In documentation these numbers were also used to refer to the vehicles themselves, so “vehicle 1K1’’ would be “flight vehicle 1 as configured for its first mission’’. Some Western publications claimed the first flight was desig­nated “VKK-1”, but this is not true. VKK (Vozduzhno-Kosmicheskiy Korabl) literally means “aerospace ship’’, a general term for winged spacecraft, although it is most often used for single-stage-to-orbit spaceplanes. Within NPO Molniya the airframes of the flight articles had designators such as 1.01, 1.02 (for the first two orbiters) and 2.01 (for the third orbiter).

Even though the word “Buran” has been used to refer to different things at different times and the name “Energiya” was not introduced until 1987, for the sake of clarity the two names will be used further in this book to refer to the orbiter and the rocket, respectively, irrespective of when the events discussed took place.

Like all earlier Soviet manned spacecraft, Buran used a mixed oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere very similar in composition and pressure to what we breathe on Earth. NASA did not introduce the oxygen/nitrogen mix until the early 1970s on Skylab, having used 100% oxygen atmospheres on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. A 100 per­cent oxygen atmosphere allows for the construction of lighter vehicles and obviates the need for spacewalk pre-breathing, but, on the other hand, significantly increases the fire hazard, as vividly demonstrated by the Apollo-1 fire in 1967.

Buran had three subsystems to provide the crew with breathable air both in standard and emergency situations. These were the Pressurization and Depressuriza­tion System (SNiR), the Gas Composition System (SGS), and the Personal Life Support System (ISZhO). The SNiR maintained cabin absolute pressure between 93.3 and 107.3 kilopascals (kPa), supplying oxygen and nitrogen to the cabin from tanks situated in the mid fuselage. As on the Shuttle Orbiter, the oxygen was stored cryogenically in the tanks of the fuel cell system. The SNiR would pump up to 1.5 kg of air into the crew module per day to compensate for routine loss of cabin air and would also repressurize the airlock after spacewalks. The system was automatically activated whenever cabin pressure sank to 98.7 kPa and would then repressurize it to a level of 101.3 kPa. It could also be operated via manually controlled valves. The SNiR was also designed to respond to various emergencies. It could replace the cabin air after a fire or a malfunction of the carbon dioxide removal system and in case of cabin depressurization due to a micrometeorite or space debris impact would blow air into the cabin to give the cosmonauts more time to don pressure suits. If Buran was to have re-entered with a depressurized cabin, the SNiR would have opened a valve to allow outside air to stream into the cabin and minimize pressure differences.

The SGS maintained oxygen partial pressure between 18.7 and 29.3 kPa, making sure that oxygen levels never exceeded 40 percent to limit the fire hazard. The system kept carbon dioxide partial pressure below 1.07 kPa. This was accomplished with regenerators in which CO2 reacted with potassium superoxide to produce oxygen, which was then recirculated to the cabin air. The ratio of absorbed CO2 to regen­erated oxygen was roughly the same as the respiratory quotient of a human being— that is, the ratio of the volume of carbon dioxide released to the volume of oxygen consumed by the body. The regenerators also had filters to remove trace contami­nants from the cabin atmosphere. Similar C02 removal systems had also flown on earlier Soviet piloted spacecraft.

Depending on crew size and mission duration, Buran would have needed to carry 6 to 18 regenerators on a single flight. The crew’s responsibility was to regularly rehook flexible hoses between cabin ventilators and the regenerators as the potassium superoxide ran out. The Shuttle Orbiter has usually relied on non-regenerative lithium hydroxide canisters for C02 removal, as many as 30 of which may be needed on a single flight. NASA did install a regenerative carbon dioxide removal system on the Orbiters Columbia and Endeavour for Extended Duration Orbiter missions, but it did not produce oxygen as a byproduct of the chemical reaction.

The ISZhO was primarily designed to provide life support functions to a full pressure suit that the crew was supposed to wear during critical mission operations such as launch, docking, undocking, and re-entry. Called Strizh (“Swift”—the bird), the suit was derived from the Sokol (“Falcon”) pressure suits worn by Soyuz cosmonauts and adapted to be used in conjunction with ejection seats. The system could operate either in an open-cycle or closed-cycle mode. With the loop open, the suit was ventilated with cabin air, which was then released back into the cabin via the helmet (if that was open) or through pressure regulators (if the helmet was closed). With the loop closed, oxygen was supplied to the suit from the fuel cell liquid-oxygen tanks or (if that didn’t work) from back-up gaseous oxygen tanks. There were also small portable oxygen containers that could sustain a crew member for 20 minutes. After having passed through the suit, the air moved through a contamination control assembly to remove carbon dioxide and other gases and through a unit that cooled the air and removed the moisture. Finally, the gas was enriched with oxygen and recirculated through the suit. The main operating pressure of the suit was 440 hecto – pascals (hPa), but could be manually reduced to 270 hPa. A single ISZhO unit formed a ventilation loop for two suits.

The system automatically switched from open loop to closed loop in the event of cabin depressurization or when smoke or other harmful substances were detected in the crew module. The closed-loop mode could also be manually activated by the crew. If the crew members were in shirtsleeves during cabin depressurization, they were able to individually don the Strizh within five minutes, with the SNiR supplying enough air to the cabin to keep them alive during that time (assuming the leak wasn’t too big). Since as many as 12 hours could elapse between depressurization and an emergency landing, the Strizh also had a waste collection and water supply system. The suits were put to the test in 1990-1991 at a vacuum chamber of the Air Force Scientific Test Institute in Akhtubinsk, when test engineers wore the suits for up to 18 hours, including 12 hours in a mode simulating a depressurized cabin. Unlike the Strizh suits, the pressure suits worn by Space Shuttle astronauts only provide protection during launch and entry, not during in-orbit emergencies.

An additional task of the ISZhO was to support a cosmonaut clad in an Orlan spacesuit during pre and post-spacewalk operations in the airlock, thereby increasing the resources of the suit during the spacewalk itself. More particularly, the system was used to feed oxygen to the suits, to cleanse and cool the air circulating in the suit, and provide water to the cooling garment. The ISZhO was also used to dry the spacesuits in preparation for the next spacewalk.

For unmanned missions the oxygen content in the cabin atmosphere was sup­posed to be lower to reduce the fire hazard. For instance, Buran had a 90 percent nitrogen/10 percent oxygen atmosphere on its one and only mission in 1988.

The SNiR and SGS were developed by the NPO Nauka organization in Moscow, while the ISZhO and associated pressure and spacesuits were products of the Zvezda organization in Tumilino just outside Moscow [17].

Buran’s communication systems performed the following functions:

– two-way voice communications between the orbiter and Mission Control and between the orbiter and other spacecraft;

– intercom between crew members inside the vehicle and between crew mem­bers inside and outside the vehicle;

– relay to the ground of television images;

– relay to the ground of telemetry about the crew’s health, condition of on­board systems, payload-related activities;

– trajectory measurements to determine the vehicle’s exact orbital parameters;

– interaction between ground-based and on-board computers.

There were three independent radio systems, operating in three different wavebands (roughly equivalent to the Space Shuttle’s P-band, S-band, and Ku-band commun­ication systems):

– Meter waveband (VHF): for direct line-of-sight communications with ground stations, tracking ships, and the landing facility, and also for inter­com. This system used omnidirectional antennas.

– Decimeter waveband (UHF): for communications with ground stations and tracking ships either directly or through geostationary relay satellites. Equipped with three transceivers, this system used two omnidirectional an­tennas and five active-phased array antennas.

– Centimeter waveband (SHF): solely for communications through geo­stationary relay satellites using two parabolic narrow-beam antennas. One of these (ONA-I) was mounted on the aft wall of the payload bay, covering the upper hemisphere, and the other (ONA-II) was located in a well on the underside of the aft fuselage, covering the lower hemisphere. ONA-I could be moved off-axis so that its view to the geostationary satellite was not blocked by the vehicle’s vertical stabilizer. Depending on the mission objec­tives and the vehicle’s orientation, the antennas could be used either together or individually. Both antennas could only be deployed in orbit and had to be stowed for a safe re-entry. Therefore, they could be pyrotechnically jet­tisoned if something went wrong during the stowage process. The ONA antennas performed the same role as the Shuttle’s Ku-band antenna, the major difference being that the Shuttle has just one such antenna installed on the starboard side of the payload bay that covers both hemispheres. The ONA antennas were not installed on Buran’s single mission in November 1988.

The data relay satellites intended for use by Buran were the Luch/Altair satellites, approved by the same February 1976 government decree that had given the go-ahead for the Energiya-Buran program. The equivalent of NASA’s Tracking Data and Relay Satellites (TDRS), these were 2.4-ton three-axis stabilized satellites designed to relay communications from and to both Buran and the Mir space station and also to provide mobile fleet communications for the Soviet Navy. They were developed by the Scientific Production Association of Applied Mechanics (NPO PM) near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Five were launched between October 1985 and October 1995.

Buran’s communication systems were developed by the Moscow-based organ­ization NPO Radiopribor (currently named Russian Scientific Research Institute of Space Equipment Building or RNII KP). Headed throughout the Buran years by Leonid I. Gusev, this organization had a virtual monopoly in developing commun­ication systems for Soviet spacecraft [25].

NPO Energiya, the former “Korolyov design bureau”, was the organization in charge of the Energiya-Buran project as a whole, performing a role comparable with that of a “prime contractor” in the West. NPO Energiya was responsible for making all key technical decisions and coordinating work between the numerous organiza­tions. Situated in the Moscow suburb of Kaliningrad (renamed Korolyov in 1996), it was initially part of the N11-88 rocket research institute founded in 1946, but split off from that organization along with Factory 88 to form the independent OKB-1 (Experimental Design Bureau 1) in 1956. It was renamed Central Design Bureau of Experimental Machine Building (TsKBEM) in 1965, NPO Energiya (NPO standing for “Scientific Production Association”) in 1976, and RKK Energiya (RKK standing for “Rocket and Space Corporation”) in 1994. Factory 88 was renamed Factory of Experimental Building (ZEM) in 1967.

Placed in charge of NPO Energiya in May 1974 was Valentin P. Glushko, who thereby relinquished his duties as chief designer of KB Energomash, the rocket engine design bureau that had merged with TsKBEM to form NPO Energiya. Being a member of the Academy of Sciences (since 1953) and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (since 1976), Glushko had considerable political clout and enjoyed almost unconditional support from Dmitriy Ustinov. Initially, Glushko was both “general designer” and “director” of NPO Energiya, but in June 1977 Vakhtang D. Vachnadze was assigned to the newly created post of “general director” to handle the organization’s day-to-day administrative affairs. Glushko died in January 1989 and was replaced in August 1989 by Yuriy P. Semyonov, who was initially only general designer, but also took over the post of general director from Vachnadze in March 1991.

By late 1977 work on the Energiya-Buran project at NPO Energiya was con­centrated in Department 16. Igor N. Sadovskiy was the chief designer of Energiya – Buran as a whole, with Yakob P. Kolyako, the former head of the heavy-lift launch vehicle section, serving as deputy for the rocket, and Pavel V. Tsybin as deputy for the orbiter. There were changes in the wake of a December 1981 party and government decree calling for organizational improvements in the Energiya-Buran program. Responsibility for the orbiter was transferred to design Department 17 of Yuriy P. Semyonov (Soyuz-Salyut), while Department 16 remained in charge only of the rocket. In January 1982 Sadovskiy, who had been on bad terms with Glushko, was replaced as chief designer of Energiya-Buran by Boris I. Gubanov, a veteran of KB Yuzhnoye in Dnepropetrovsk, who had played a key role in the development of missiles such as the R-14, R-36, and R-36M. From that moment on Gubanov was chief designer of the Energiya-Buran system as a whole and also chief designer of the rocket, while Semyonov was chief designer of the orbiter. Sadovskiy became Gubanov’s first deputy, while Vladimir A. Timchenko served as Semyonov’s deputy for the orbiter.

On the production side, NPO Energiya’s ZEM manufacturing facility was in

charge of building many key systems needed for orbital flight—in particular, the orbital maneuvering engines and primary thrusters of the ODU propulsion system as well as the power supply system. These parts were then shipped either to the Tushino Machine Building Factory or to Baykonur for installation in the vehicle. ZEM also housed a full-scale “electrical analog” of Buran (the so-called “Integrated Stand” or OK-KS).

ZEM also manufactured several parts of Energiya’s strap-on boosters. In the mid-1970s an agreement had been reached that KB Yuzhnoye in Dnepropetrovsk would only build the so-called “modular part’’ of the strap-ons—in other words, the part that was common to the strap-ons and the Zenit first stage. Most of what was unique to the strap-ons would have to be built at ZEM—in particular, the nose and tail sections of the boosters, the parachute containers, drain valves, and actuators. According to original plans, final assembly of the strap-on boosters was to take place at ZEM, but later it was decided to move this work to the Baykonur cosmodrome. The parts manufactured at ZEM were delivered to Baykonur by rail and integrated with the modular part in situ at the cosmodrome. Finally, ZEM also manufactured the pneumatic and hydraulic systems for the Energiya core stage. Directors of ZEM during the Buran years were Viktor M. Klyucharyov (1966-1978) and Aleksey A. Borisenko (1978-1999) [2].

Very early on in the program a decision was made to build a runway at the Baykonur cosmodrome not only to receive Buran at the end of its missions, but also to deliver Buran and elements of the Energiya rocket to the cosmodrome by the VM-T Atlant and eventually Mriya. NPO Molniya was assigned as prime contractor for the construction of the runway by a party/government decree on 21 November 1977.

Baykonur has had an aerodrome (“Krayniy”) since the early days of its existence, but this is situated close to the city of Leninsk, many dozens of kilometers to the south of the launch facilities, and was therefore not suited for this role. Requirements for the location of the new runway were that it had to be outside the “blast zone” of the Energiya pads and be capable of receiving Buran from either side, both during nominal missions and in launch emergencies. The new facility (called PK OK or 11P72) was eventually built some 6.5 km to the northwest of the UKSS complex and 11 km to the northwest of the Raskat complex.

The central part of the landing complex was a 4.5 km long and 84 m wide runway called Yubileynyy (“Jubilee”), capable not only of receiving Buran, but also planes with a take-off mass of up to 650 tons. The surface layer was made of reinforced concrete with a thickness varying between 26 and 32 cm above an 18 to 22 cm sand/ cement ground layer. This concrete, which was about 1.5 to 2 times stronger than the type used on ordinary runways, was produced in six factories located at a consider­able distance from the runway. This created serious transportation problems since the concrete could remain in liquid state for only one and a half hours before being poured onto the runway. The surface had to be extremely flat, with deviations of no more than 3 mm over a 3 m stretch (compared with 10 mm on ordinary runways). To achieve this, the complete 378,000 m surface of the runway had to be ground like parquet floor with special milling machines.

At either end of the runway was a 500 m long and 90 m wide stretch of asphalt to give Buran more leeway during emergency landings. Running parallel to the main runway at a distance of some 50 m was a 4.5 km long and 100 m wide dirt runway apparently intended for emergency landings by planes, with no role in the Buran program.

Adjacent to the runway were several facilities:

– A platform to drain liquid oxygen, gaseous oxygen, and liquid hydrogen from Buran’s fuel cells and the ODU propulsion system.

– A platform to off-load Buran and elements of the Energiya rocket from their carrier aircraft. This has two mate-demate devices called PKU-50 and PUA-100 capable of handling payloads of 50 and 100 tons, respectively.

– A “waiting platform” for vehicles needed to service Buran after landing.

– A parking platform for airplanes.

– An airplane-servicing area.

Also located in the vicinity of the runway was the ground segment of the Vympel navigational aid system (Vympel-N). This included six transponders for the RDS system (only three of which were required for landing), one beacon for the RSBN system, four beacons for the RMS microwave landing system, and a set of radars.

The nerve center of the landing complex was a six-story high command and control building (OKPD) that acted as a control center for the landing phase, work­ing in conjunction with the TsUP Mission Control Center near Moscow. The build­ing had one big control room for Buran and another for ordinary air traffic control tasks [16].

By mid-1989, several months after Buran’s maiden flight on 15 November 1988, plans were finalized for a second mission that would far exceed the first one in complexity. The mission would use the second flight vehicle (2K, sometimes called “Buran-2”) and was therefore dubbed 2K1. The plan was for the orbiter to be launched unmanned and fly to the Mir space station, where it would dock with the axial APAS-89 docking port of the Kristall module. Before that, Kristall would be relo­cated from its lateral port on the Mir multiple docking adapter to the station’s front axial port. After docking, the Mir resident crew would board the orbiter to determine the state of its on-board systems, with one of the possible objectives being to use the vehicle’s remote manipulator arm to move a payload from the payload bay to Kristall’s lateral APAS docking port. One NPO Energiya official said that the pay­load was a small one-ton module housing a Fosvich X-ray telescope similar to the one on Mir’s Kvant module. See [69]. Also installed in the payload bay would have been a pressurized module (37KB) about the size of the Kvant module with instrumentation to record various flight parameters.

Subsequently, the orbiter would undock and continue its flight autonomously. Around the same time, a manned Soyuz equipped with an APAS-89 docking port would be launched to dock with the orbiter. The crew would transfer to the orbiter and perform one day of testing. After the Soyuz undocked, it would fly on to Mir to link up with Kristall, while the unmanned 2K orbiter returned back to Baykonur after a one-week mission [70].

In the late 1980s NPO Energiya was ordered to build three Soyuz spacecraft (serial numbers 101, 102, 103) with APAS-89 docking ports. These vehicles were intended in the first place for possible rescue missions to stranded Buran crews during the test flight program, but it was decided to use the first one in the framework of the

2K1 mission [71]. The flight was partially seen as a dress rehearsal for such a potential rescue mission.

LII demanded that at least one of its Buran pilots be included in the Soyuz crew to give him the necessary experience for the first manned Buran mission [72]. With no or few Soyuz seats available in the mainstream Mir program, this was the ultimate opportunity for a Soyuz familiarization flight, the more so because it involved Buran itself. However, in 1990 a training group was formed for the Soyuz mission consisting of three GKNII pilots and three TsPK military engineers:

Stepanov and Fefelov were assigned in April 1990 and the others in October/ November 1990. It is not entirely clear if training advanced to the point that actual crews were formed, although Kadenyuk has claimed he was in the second back-up crew with Fefelov [73]. The most active training was performed by the three pilots, who faced the unprecedented task of docking Soyuz with Buran. All three spent many hours in TsPK’s Soyuz simulators, practicing dockings both with Buran and Mir. The three engineers reportedly never underwent any dedicated mission training [74].

The 2K1 mission was originally scheduled for 1991, but kept slipping as future prospects for the Buran program grew ever dimmer. Officially, the three pilots and Illarionov remained assigned until March 1992, and Fefelov and Stepanov until October 1992 [75]. Kadenyuk has said the mission was officially canceled in August 1992 [76].

Soyuz craft nr. 101 was eventually launched as Soyuz TM-16 on 24 January 1993, carrying another resident crew (Gennadiy Manakov and Aleksandr Poleshchuk) to the Mir space station. Equipped with an APAS-89 docking port, it was the only Soyuz vehicle ever to dock with the Kristall module. Soyuz “rescue” vehicles nr. 102 and 103, which had been only partly assembled, were modified as ordinary Soyuz TM spacecraft with standard “probe” docking mechanisms and were given new serial numbers [77].