Full-scale test articles

Currently, five full-scale Buran test articles still reside at various locations in the former Soviet Union, four of them in a fully assembled state. Two vehicles, OK-MT and OK-ML1, remain at the Baykonur cosmodrome. OK-MT is situated in the MZK building together with flight vehicle 2K and is said to be in relatively good condition. The same cannot be said of OK-ML1, which for a long time sat exposed to the elements at the orbiter test-firing stand. It is in a sorry state, with many of its parts having been stripped by visiting tourists. In January 2007 it was parked next to the Baykonur museum on Site 2 of the cosmodrome and there were plans to turn it into an exhibit.

Any plans to ferry the remaining vehicles to Russia or other countries are compounded by the fact that all the remaining Energiya-Buran hardware at Baykonur is now the property of Kazakhstan. Moreover, the mate-demate device needed to lift the orbiters onto the Mriya aircraft near the Yubileynyy runway has not been maintained in an operational state.

Probably the most famous full-scale test article is OK-M, which sits as a tourist attraction in Gorkiy Park on the banks of the Moscow River. The cargo bay has been turned into what looks like the passenger section of an aircraft, with visitors being able to watch images of the Earth projected on screens and being treated to space food. Before entering the vehicle they get a symbolic medical check-up and a certificate clearing them for an imaginary flight in space.

The electrical test model OK-KS remains at the facilities of RKK Energiya in Korolyov, while the partially disassembled test model OK-TVI is in storage at Nllkhimmash near Sergiyev Posad. RKK Energiya has been trying to somehow get rid of OK-KS, which occupies valuable space at its facilities, but to no apparent avail, mainly due to the absence of a presidential edict officially canceling the Energiya-Buran program. However, something may happen with them after all, now that the Russian government has begun allocating at least some funds for dealing with remaining Energiya-Buran hardware [55].