Russia's secret space shuttles have been sitting in plain sight for 22 years (Reported MSN 18.06.15)

The Russian Space Shuttle Buran programme

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27. Russia's secret space shuttles
Russia launched their Buran program in 1974 in response to NASA's space shuttle program. One of the main goals of the programme was to send the first woman in history on a spacewalk.

28. Russia's secret space shuttles
They actually succeeded four years before even launching their Buran shuttle. In 1984, Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya became the first woman to complete a spacewalk and the second woman ever in space.

29. Russia's secret space shuttles
One piece of the shuttles that still seems to be in relatively good condition is its propulsion systems in the back.

30. Russia's secret space shuttles
These engines were designed to fly the shuttle once it reached space. They weren't nearly powerful enough to get the vehicles to space.

31. Russia's secret space shuttles
On his blog, Mirebs asks "Why spend billions on ... space, if it does not bring profit for the foreseeable future?" Much of Mirebs's photography documents Russia's industrial decline after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

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5. Russia's secret space shuttles
Buran is Russian for "snowstorm" or "blizzard." The Russians built only few prototypes of these shuttles, and only one of them actually flew.

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USSR Shuttle Buran

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