The Soviet Space Shuttle Buran - Snowstorm In Space - An Orbiter Film

An Orbiter Film by Timm Humphreys. The Soviet Space Shuttle Buran ('Snowstorm' in Russian) was to be a response to the American Space Shuttle. It was to be lofted into orbit on the Energia Heavy Lift Booster system. The Buran is the only shuttle to fly launch to landing unmanned, coming to wheel stop only 5 feet from the runway centerline. It could have serviced the Mir space station, and later assisted in construction of the ISS, filling the 2 year gap in assembly flights after the loss of shuttle Columbia. The Russian shuttle system showed innovation and potential, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, funds dried up, and the program was officially cancelled in 1993. If you would like to learn more about the Buran Shuttle, a great website is www.russianspaceweb.com/buran.html.
This movie consists of clips from my various mission simulations using the Buran/Energia vehicles, showing orbital ops (satellite deployment, retrieval, repair) and servicing of the Mir station.
Thanks to Yuri Kulchitsky and Vadim Lukashevitch for the Energia add-on, and J. Kanois and Mark Petroff for their Buran shuttles. And as always, thanks to all the other talented Orbiter add-on developers and special thanks to Dr. Martin Schweiger for Orbiter. Since 2002 your beautiful creations have made my spaceflight dreams come true.
For Orbiter links or to see more film and screenshots, visit www.vspacex.com

Orbiter Films by Timm Humphreys

I created this site due to my passion for manned space exploration and my hobby of simulating space flights using the Orbiter Spaceflight Simulator. I've been using Orbiter to simulate space missions since 2002, and over the years have built up an extensive collection of Orbiter add-ons for not only various spacecraft, but scenery and textures as well. I hope you enjoy watching my films as much as I enjoyed making them, and I hope you're as impressed as I always am with the amazing work of the many, many Orbiter add-on developers who have contributed their talents to enriching the Orbiter experience. For those with a love of spaceflight who would like to experience the challenge (and frustration) of learning to fly spacecraft to orbit, the moon, Mars and beyond, visit the Orbiter website. It's free to download, but remember that it's a simulator and not a video game, and the learning curve can be quite steep. 

You have been warned.

I hope you enjoy the short films I've created from some of my various mission simulations. I've simulated most of the missions from Sputnik through Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, all the Apollo missions, Soyuz, Skylab, Salyut, Mir, almost all of the 135 flights of the American Space Shuttle fleet, ISS, old spacecraft concepts like the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran and the N1 rocket, and new concepts for flight like NASA's Constellation/Aries spacecraft, and SpaceX's Falcon spacecraft.

Feel free to visit my website, Virtual Space Exploration, at www.vspacex.com