Ekaterinburg’s aviation and military museum complex is preparing to undertake restoration of an orbiter from the Soviet Union’s Buran space shuttle programme, six months after the vehicle’s arrival.
Orbiter 2.01 – colloquially known as ‘Baikal’ – was the third to be built under the programme.
Only one orbiter, the 1.01 vehicle designated ‘Buran’, was ever launched, carrying out an uncrewed spaceflight in November 1988.
Four others, including ‘Baikal’, were in various stages of construction when the programme was cancelled in 1993 following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The museum – located in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, just north of Ekaterinburg – took delivery of ‘Baikal’ in August last year.
It states that the orbiter is the only flight model preserved in Russia, and preparations for a “large-scale, multi-stage restoration project” have been underway since its arrival.
The initial stage of work involves scanning the fuselage to establish which parts of the orbiter are missing, and manufacturing replacements.
“As far as I know there are no specialists in the restoration of space technology,” says museum complex director Nikolai Rezinskikh.
“No-one has done this kind of work before us.”
He says the technology and “unique” materials used in the orbiter’s construction complicate the task, and make even a “mock-up” replacement difficult to obtain.
“Despite the apparent abundance of information on the Buran programme, many of the drawings needed for restoration are missing or unavailable,” he adds.
But he says the museum intends the work to give a “finished appearance” to the orbiter, and provide visitors with an illustration of the various design and engineering elements involved.
Although the Buran programme was cancelled, the single Soviet-designed Antonov An-225 aircraft developed to transport orbiters continued in operation as an outsize freighter before its destruction at Kyiv’s Gostomel airport in 2022, during the early days of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
