pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) (09/30/88)
Yesterday evening Swedish television, after some footage of Discovery
blasting away skywards, showed the Soviet shuttle on it's launch pad.
It looked *very* similar to the American shuttle, even complete with
something that looked like an external tank and two SRBs. They only
showed one low angle picture which didn't show much of anything except
the orbiter. I got the impression that it was slightly smaller than
the American shuttle, almost like a scaled down version. Have the
soviets published pictures of the shuttle previously?
According to the newscaster Soviet TV did not say anything about
Discovery on the news.
--
Per Danielsson UUCP: pd@sics.se (or {mcvax,decvax}!enea!sics!pd)
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
PO Box 1263, S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
"No wife, no horse, no moustache."anand@cmx.npac.syr.edu (Rangachari Anand) (10/03/88)
In article <2127@sics.se> pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) writes: > >It looked *very* similar to the American shuttle, even complete with >something that looked like an external tank and two SRBs. They only >showed one low angle picture which didn't show much of anything except >the orbiter. I got the impression that it was slightly smaller than >the American shuttle, almost like a scaled down version. Have the >soviets published pictures of the shuttle previously? Although the Russian space shuttle looks somewhat similar from the outside it is really a completely different type of vehicle. Their shuttle is only one of a number of payloads which can be launched by the Energia booster. The 'SRB's which you saw are actually liquid fueled. Thus unlike the U.S., the Russian orbiter does not contain the main engines. The Energia is an expendable rocket. A useful feature of the Russian orbiter is that it has 4 turbojet engines for use in the atmosphere while landing. This makes the landing much easier and is not a one-chance-only affair. To see more detailed pictures of the Soviet shuttle, look in 'Spaceflight' (which is an excellent journal published by the British Interplantary Society). Also, the National Geographic published a few artists impressions of the Soviet shuttle about a year ago in an article about the Soviet space program. R. Anand Internet: anand@amax.npac.syr.edu Bitnet: ranand@sunrise
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (10/03/88)
In article <2127@sics.se> pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) writes: >... Have the >soviets published pictures of the shuttle previously? No, although there have been a lot of artist's conceptions and the like produced in the West. -- The meek can have the Earth; | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
jay@ncspm.ncsu.edu (Jay C. Smith) (10/04/88)
In article <651@cmx.npac.syr.edu> anand@cmx.npac.syr.edu (Rangachari Anand) writes: >...it has 4 turbojet engines for use in the atmosphere while >landing. This makes the landing much easier and is not a one-chance-only >affair. I thought the four engines were used only during testing that involved powered take-offs from a runway, and that only two engines were being kept for the operational model (since they would only be used for landing). Is this right? -- "I don't suppose you have any idea what the damn thing is, huh?" --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jay C. Smith uucp: ...!mcnc!ncsuvx!ncspm!jay Domain: jay@ncspm.ncsu.edu internet: jay%ncspm@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu