Our 20th Century Space Legacy – Part 4: Transporting Humans into Near-Earth Space

After the American landing on the Moon, human space flight returned to low-Earth orbit. The cost to launch a kilogram of payload into near-Earth space under the Apollo Program was prohibitively expensive. Post-Apollo engineers focused on finding a cheaper solution. Both in the United States and Soviet Union, engineers conceived of reusable winged spacecraft. The American program led to the Space Shuttle. The Soviets answered with Buran. Did either lower the cost of putting cargo and humans into near-Earth space? No. When the Space Shuttle program ended in the summer of 2011, payload launch costs amounted to $10,416 per kilogram. Buran costs could not be calculated since it flew unmanned once in 1988 and never was used again.

If you look at the above picture it is impossible not to note the similarity in design between the two spacecraft. One can argue that both teams worked through the engineering issues and arrived at the same conclusion. That is probably far from the truth.

The Space Shuttle design served both a civilian and military purpose. Preliminary design work began in 1968 with the official program launch in 1972. The first orbital flight took place in 1981. Right from the start the Shuttle was deemed both for civilian and military purposes. This did not go unnoticed in the Soviet Union.

With the Shuttle perceived as a formidable military asset, the Soviets responded, building one of their own. Work began in 1974. The Buran orbiter flew once in November of 1988 in what was deemed an almost flawless performance. It was unmanned and performed launch, orbital manoeuvres and landing perfectly. In 1993 the Russian government cancelled the program justifying it by stating that the Cold War was over and the need for Buran no loner existed. The truth was much simpler. The Russians could no longer afford the cost in the post-Soviet economic collapse.

Comparing the Shuttle and the Buran Orbiter

The Buran and Space Shuttle shared some commonalities. The Soviets freely copied many of the Space Shuttle’s design features, but they made significant improvements as well. They also took advantage of their heavy launch technology in using the Energia, a proven rocket system developed for the Mir program and capable of providing much greater thrust than the combined propulsion systems used for launching the Space Shuttle. A basic comparison of the two spacecraft highlights both the similarities and significant differences:

The Space Shuttles with all of their design flaws flew for 30 years, from 1981 to 2011. Six were built. The first, Enterprise, never flew in space. Columbia first flew in 1981 and was lost on re-entry on its 28th mission in February 2003. Challenger first flew in 1983 and was lost shortly after launch in January of 1986, its 10th mission. Discovery first flew in 1984 and after 39 missions retired in 2011. Endeavour flew its first mission in 1992 and its 25th and last in 2011. And Atlantis flew for the first time in 1985 and was the last Space Shuttle to fly in 2011 on its 33rd mission. The Space Shuttles ferried 852 crew members into low-Earth orbit during the lifetime of the fleet, travelling more than 864 million kilometers (537 million miles) in 134 flights. The two failures resulted in the deaths of 14 astronauts.

In early missions the Space Shuttles were instruments of Cold War politics and a statement about American space technology. They were used to deploy satellites and do onboard scientific research and observation. Some were used for military missions. Two shuttle missions serviced and repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. Several missions visited Mir, the Soviet space station. And the balance ferried materials and crews to the International Space Station to ensure its successful completion. When the Space Shuttles retired the Cold War had transitioned to joint ventures between Russia, the United States and 16 other nations.

Our 21st century story in space can now begin.