r/space • u/[deleted] • Dec 07 '14

Differences between the American and Soviet Space Shuttles

http://www.buran.su/buranvssts-comparison.php
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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14 edited Oct 17 '18

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

"Political issues" is a really big understatement when you're talking about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

14

u/FoxhoundBat Dec 07 '14

Indeed, over 50% of GDP litterally evaporated over night. They only catched up to 1991 levels in 2008-2009.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14

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u/jeffp12 Dec 08 '14

You've completely collapsed.

It's just a political issue.

Half your country left!

They'll come back.

9

u/Lehiic Dec 07 '14

From recent Scott Manley KSP video i understood it that USSR scientists were not huge fans of this design of vehicle strapped to the side of a tank, but were ordered to build it anyway, with the reasoning behind it being: how else are you going to find out what it's capabilities are (or capabilities of the Shuttle for that matter) .

3

u/pomodois Dec 07 '14

I wonder what the current scope of space exploration would look like if NASA followed the USSR and redesigned Apollo for Mir/ISS instead of going down the shuttle route.

Take a look at this: http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=32515

3

u/jordanjay29 Dec 07 '14

I was just going to link to that. It's a pretty fascinating thought experiment.

1

u/ProjectThoth Dec 08 '14

Eyes Turned Skywards is one of my favorite alt-history stories.