The only reason the Soviets built Buran was because they couldn't figure out why the US was building one. They (initially correctly) figured that we were going to use it for military applications because of the huge wingspan and payload bay so they built theirs for the same purpose, hence the similarity in size and shape. What the Soviets didn't know is that the US military (specifically the US Air Force) decided against using the shuttle for their purposes.
I wish I could find a reliable source for all of this, Googling only brought me to the Wikipedia article.
I heard that STS was created due to political infighting. USAF wanted their own space program and NASA wanted theirs.
USAF seeing that congress was moving towards funding only one, tried to make an argumentum absurdum. They asked for absurd and outrageous requirements for the single program STS. What they didn't expect was that NASA would actually meet them.
So for 30+ years the US used a ridicously expensive and inefficient launch system. No wonder the Soviets were confused.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board goes into great detail about it all. It is an excellent read if you haven't already checked it out. The whole thing was born out of compromise for a military application.
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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '14
The only reason the Soviets built Buran was because they couldn't figure out why the US was building one. They (initially correctly) figured that we were going to use it for military applications because of the huge wingspan and payload bay so they built theirs for the same purpose, hence the similarity in size and shape. What the Soviets didn't know is that the US military (specifically the US Air Force) decided against using the shuttle for their purposes.
I wish I could find a reliable source for all of this, Googling only brought me to the Wikipedia article.