A tour group just returned from Baykonur with great photos

DA wrote:

tml.

It actually says "Buran prototype" and it's hard to say how close it is to
the real thing. Some parts of its hardware are definitely not flight
worthy, such as those ugly stand-offs on the back.
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/c...s/Img_018.html




I wonder what those are about? That's where the RCS housings were in the
flight article. The center box almost looks like a drag chute housing.
Buran could be carried around (minus its vertical fin) with a
aerodynamic fairing over the tail by the "Atlant" carrier aircraft:
http://www.buran.ru/images/gif/atlant3.gif
Those units might be where the fairing was attached.

Pat