Status
Success
Rocket
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Mission Details
Buran 1K
Buran is the first large space shuttle produced by the USSR. This first flight was uncrewed, control of the shuttle was automated, which the American shuttle was unable to do. The shuttle placed itself correctly in orbit, before returning a few hours later on Earth, landing on an airstrip in Baikonur. This was also the last flight of the shuttle, it was destroyed in 2002 during the collapse of the hangar where it was stored.
Buran's on-board computer was free to choose the airport where the shuttle would land. At first Buran headed for the Yasny runway, but then changed direction towards the Baikonur cosmodrome, without the engineers being aware of it.
Instead of landing directly, the computer made Buran turn around so that it landed on the other side of the runway, something also unexpected.