Ο φωτογράφος Ralph Mirebs στον εγκαταλελειμμένο ρώσικο διαστημικό σταθμό

Ο φωτογράφος Ralph Mirebs βρέθηκε στον εγκαταλελειμμένο ρώσικο διαστημικό σταθμό Baikonur Cosmodrome. Οι φωτογραφίες του μέσα σε λίγες μέρες έχουν κάνει τον γύρο του διαδικτύου.

In 1974, Russia launched its largest, most expensive project in space exploration history.

The stars of the project, called the Buran program, were its space shuttles, which were built in secret from designs the Soviet secret police stole from NASA.

The Soviets invested anywhere from tens of millions to billions on the project, which was terminated in 1993. The sites where the shuttles were laid to rest have since been completely abandoned.

Photographer Ralph Mirebs recently visited one of these dust-ridden graveyards and chronicled the journey on his LiveJournal blog, where you can see the full collection.

The abandoned garage, also called a hangar, is located on a site that belong to Russia’s space launch facility, called Baikonur Cosmodrome. 

The abandoned hangar is 433 feet long and 203 feet high with giant doors on either end, shown below, that slid open to release the shuttles.

Near the top of this photo are beams attached with cranes that could lift up to 400 tons

Buran is Russian for «snowstorm» or «blizzard.» The Russians built only few prototypes of these shuttles, and only one of them actually flew.

The shuttles were designed to carry cosmonauts into space but never did. The first and only flight was unmanned. It took place in 1988 and lasted a total of 206 minutes, during which time the spacecraft successfully launched, orbited Earth twice, and landed.

Πηγή