mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) (11/17/88)
Radio Moscow last night had an interesting interview with Yuri Semyonov, 'chief designer of spaceships and stations', who said that the next mission of Buran will be longer and more complicated, but still without a crew. They also reported dimensions of the orbiter, which I reproduce below together with the dimensions of the US orbiter for comparison (I grabbed the latter from a single reference book this morning, so they may be inaccurate and I would appreciate correction..) All dimensions are in metres. Orbiter Wingspan Length Height Cargo bay: length diameter Buran 24 36 16 18 5 Columbia 24 37 17 18 5 Hmm, well sounds pretty similar to me! No flames, please, about the internal differences, I am merely addressing those who have suggested that the external shape and size are significantly different. Note that the nosewheel is placed quite a bit further back, which as well as the tail chutes on touchdown makes the landing look a little different. But the rudder does seem to split in the same way as the US orbiter despite the horizontal line visible on it. Jonathan McDowell .....................