Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!nyser!cmx!anand
From: anand@cmx.npac.syr.edu (Rangachari Anand)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Shuttles, east and west.
Keywords: Space Shuttle, Discovery, Soviet Shuttle
Message-ID: <651@cmx.npac.syr.edu>
Date: 2 Oct 88 18:10:51 GMT
References: <2127@sics.se>
Reply-To: anand@cmx.npac.syr.edu (Rangachari Anand)
Organization: Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse NY
Lines: 29

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