Skip to content
79,433 pages · 13,741 images · since 1994 Browse A–Z Today in space history
Encyclopedia Astronautica The full story of spaceflight
Encyclopedia entry

Buran 5

Spacecraft · Russia

Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.

Buran docks to Mir
Buran docks to Mir
As it was supposed to be - Buran docking with Mir space station.

Cancelled Buran Flight 5 (3K1) would have been the first flight of the third orbiter. It would be the first manned Buran flight; the third orbiter was the first outfitted with life support systems and ejection seats.

Two cosmonauts would deliver the 37KBI module to Mir, using the Buran manipulator arm to dock it to the station's Kristall module. Final crew selection had still not been made at the time the program was cancelled. The original crew was Volk and Stankiavicius, with Levchenko and Shchukin as back-ups. Both Levchenko and Shchukin died in 1988; Bachurin and Borodai were selected as the new back-up crew. By July 1992 the Soviet Air Force and NPO Energia were still arguing about the final crew composition. The Air Force wanted all test pilot crews (those indicated) while Energia wanted to include a flight engineer in each crew. The Buran project was finally cancelled in June 1993 when further funding was deleted from the Russian space budget.

Country
Russia
Spacecraft
Buran.

  • Buran 5 (cancelled) - .
Backup Crew
Sultanov, Zabolotski
Nation
Russia
Program
Mir
Flight
Buran 5
Spacecraft
Buran. Buran Flight 5 (3K1) would have been the first flight of the third orbiter. It would be the first manned Buran flight; the third orbiter was the first outfitted with life support systems and ejection seats. Two cosmonauts would deliver the 37KBI module to Mir, using the Buran manipulator arm to dock it to the station's Kristall module. Final crew selection had still not been made at the time the program was cancelled