Framed photo of Buran space shuttle

The only orbital launch of a Buran-class orbiter occurred at 03:00:02 UTC on 15 November 1988 from Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad 110/37. Buran was lifted into space, on an unmanned mission, by the specially designed expendable Energia rocket, a class of super heavy-lift launch vehicle. OK-1K1 (Buran) completed one unmanned spaceflight in 1988, and was destroyed in 2002 when the hangar it was stored in collapsed. It remains the only Soviet reusable spacecraft to be launched into space. Read more