Launch of Soviet Buran Spacecraft

Date: November 15, 1988 • Location: Washington D.C., United States

The Soviet spacecraft Buran, a reusable vehicle built in response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, uncrewed, on its only flight.

Buran was the first flight orbiter to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran programme. The Buran orbiters were similar in design to the U.S. Space Shuttle. Buran completed one uncrewed spaceflight in 1988, and was destroyed in 2002 when the roof of its storage hangar collapsed at Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Buran orbiters used the expendable Energia rocket, a class of super heavy-lift launch vehicle. Besides describing the first operational Soviet/Russian shuttle orbiter, "Buran" was also the designation for the entire Soviet/Russian spaceplane project and its flight articles, which were known as "Buran-class orbiters".