In this book, the authors describe the long development of the Soviet
space shuttle system, its infrastructure and what was planned to follow
the first historic unmanned mission. This is the first comprehensive
book on the Soviet Energiya/Buren project published in the West, making
use of exclusive Russian source material obtained by the authors over
the past decade. The text includes a review of the decisions to proceed
with the US space shuttle in 1972 and the Soviet decision to construct
Buran in 1976, a physical description of the Energiya system, and a
comparison in tabular form of Buran with the American system. Readers
will gain unique insight into the rise and fall of a project primarily
designed to catch up with the United States in the Cold War in space.