2.01 (Buran-class spacecraft)

2.01
Country	Soviet Union
Status	unfinished
Time spent in space	Never flew in space

2.01 is the designation of the third space shuttle to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program. It carried the GRAU index serial number 11F35 K3 and is - depending on the source - also known as "OK-2K1", "Orbiter K3", "OK 2.01" or "Shuttle 2.01". Its construction was not complete when the Buran program was ended (30-50 percent done), so it remains unfinished.^[1]

Differences from OK-1K1

The 2.01 is the first of a second series of Buran-class shuttle orbiters. The main differences between the second series and the first operational Soviet shuttles are located in the cockpit, which has been improved using feedback from the earlier models of Buran-class shuttles, such as the flight of OK-1K1 and the construction of OK-1K2.^[1]

Projected flights

It was projected in 1989 that orbiter 2.01 would have its first manned space test flight in 1994, with a duration of twenty-four hours. The craft would have been equipped with a life support system and two ejection seats. Crew would have consisted of two cosmonauts — Igor Volk (commander) and Aleksandr Ivanchenko (flight engineer).^[2]

Post-retirement

After residing at the Tushino factory where it was constructed, it was incorrectly announced in 2006 that orbiter 2.01 would be put on display in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, Germany. However, the German Museum had actually bought OK-GLI, the jet-powered Buran atmospheric test vehicle, which will be on display in its own new hangar from September 2008.^[1]

Since 2004 the orbiter 2.01 had been left under open sky on a car park in Moscow, near Khimki Reservoir.^{[3] [4] [5] [6][7]}

On 22 June 2011 during the day the orbiter was put on a barge^[8] to be moved to the MAKS 2011 international air show, which took place from 16 to 21 August in Zhukovsky (Moscow region).^[9] In the night of 22–23 June it was seen on the Moskva River.^[10][11] As of November 2013, it remained at the Ramenskoye–Zhukovsky Airport (55°33′06″N 38°08′40″E / 55.5517°N 38.1444°E / 55.5517; 38.1444).^[12]

As of July 2017, heat-tiles from orbiter 2.01 are for sale online, indicating that it may have been scrapped or otherwise disassembled^[13].

References

See also

• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105 — Soviet orbital spaceplane
• Spaceplane
• Spacecraft

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buran (spacecraft).

• 2.01 orbiter
• 2.01 status incorrectly mentioning its relocation to Germany
• Images of 2.01 parked open air in Moscow in 2004 with a notice it's being moved to NPO Molniya

Space Shuttle orbiters and Buran-class shuttles

United States Space Shuttle program (list) Soviet/Russian Buran programme Pathfinder (OV-098, ground tests) Challenger (OV-099, destroyed in 1986) Enterprise (OV-101, atmospheric tests, retired in 1979) Columbia (OV-102, destroyed in 2003) Discovery (OV-103, retired in 2011) Atlantis (OV-104, retired in 2011) Endeavour (OV-105, retired in 2011) OK-GLI (Buran Analog BST-02, aerotester) Buran (Shuttle 1.01, destroyed in 2002) Ptichka (Shuttle 1.02, 95–97% completed) Baikal (Shuttle 2.01, incomplete) 2.02 (partially dismantled) 2.03 (dismantled)