The space race is on again. USAF has been playing with X-37B since last year, Russian industry has outlined the craft's design, We will soon see something from Russia. However, when they were still Soviet Union, they had a space program called Buran from 1988 to 1993. It looks very smiler to American Space Shuttle, but the structure and system are completely different than the American's. Buran also succeeded an unmanned flight test, going around the orbit for a duration of 206 minutes and return to Baikonur Cosmodrome in 1988. I wonder if it looks like X-37B..I guess we'll see it soon..
昨年から米空軍はX-37B無人シャトル飛ばして遊んでいますが、ロシアも宇宙船開発中とのことで米露宇宙開発レースが再会らしいですが、1988〜1993年まで続いた旧ソの宇宙プログラムBuran。見た目は米製スペースシャトルそっくりなんですが、構造や打ち上げシステムなんかはまるっきし違うらしく、1988年には206分間にわたり無人で地球軌道を周回し、発射場所であるバイコヌール宇宙基地の滑走路に自動着陸を成功させてたりとかなりの強者。でも今回もまた真似呼ばわりされるんですかね？