Re:Space Shuttle vs. Buran
by a235 on Saturday April 09, 2016 @04:37PM
(#11463193)
On engine difference, which is critical but has not been pointed out:
- Buran had no launching engines, whole Energia rocket has been lost (apart of boosters?)
- Shuttle did, thus the most expensive part has been returned back
This resulted in a fact that STS launches were expected to be much cheaper [citation needed]
[ Parent
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Although, the plan for the Energia launch vehicle was to return and land (the boosters vertically, like SpaceX is doing, while they planned to put wings on the main rocket) - however the program was canceled before they got to that phase of the project.