Buran: The Most Impressive Thing the Soviets Ever Built

A 10 year project, encompassing every region of the Soviet Union. The unprecedented complexity of Buran/Energia required the Soviets to do something they were notoriously bad at: work together. And following it's only flight, it also drove an unlikely collaboration between the US and Russia.

In this video we explore the technical challenges necessary to launch the Soviet orbiter, and some of the unconventional approaches Engineers took to overcome them.

3D Modelling and translation by Artem Tatarchenko:
  / artem.iskustvo  
   / @artem.kak.art.  

The Energia Buran archive was a major source for this video. There are some amazing photos there - I recommend anyone reading this go visit:
https://buranarchive.space


Intro inspired by ​⁠‪@deepspacebombardmentforce‬ :
   • THE SHACKLETON DISASTER  

Intro music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio:
   • Sci Fi Synthwave - Klendathu Drop // ...  

Landing montage music by MTHRBORD:
   • Проект Лазарь - Я разговариваю с луно...  


Sources available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0d64bi...

Many of the sources were found at buran.ru. I thoroughly recommend checking it out, but go the the Russian version and translate - there is way more available there.

Additional video sources:
   • Buran-sources  


C5 model:
"Galaxy" (https://skfb.ly/oqRZE) by AC1MX is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b....

747 model:
"Boeing 747-8F cargolux" (https://skfb.ly/oPzZt) by zairiqzairiq is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b....

an225 model:
"Antonov AN-225" (https://skfb.ly/oTwCB) by KOG_THORNS is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b....

Additional 3D models developed from those available here:
http://buran.ru/htm/3d-model.htm

00:00 Intro
06:13 Operational History
23:49 The Logistics Chapter
32:58 Crew Safety
41:23 The Engine Chapter (RD-170)
52:16 Software
01:00:12 Proposed Improvements
01:05:34 Legacy
01:14:02 Conclusions