Energia - Buran Space Transportation System

Archibald said:
7-As it happens, the single-orbit mission trajectory pass very close from Moscow
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Actually, the opposite. Baseline Reference Missions 3A&B flew at 104 degrees inclination which would have not overflown the USSR landmass on the first rev. That is why, the deployment or retrieval of the payload would be done out of sight from the Soviets.
 
galopujacy_jez said:
I can see the point they're making; to my understanding STS was originally meant to effectively replace the US fleet and become a universal launcher, dozens of payloads and missions were devised with the Shuttle in mind, upper stages were developed etc. Meanwhile, Buran was meant to merely complement the existing fleet, and as a result everything that could be launched on R-7 variants stuck with the R-7...
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How much of that was political?
Energiya strap-ons/Zenit could have replaced R-7 and Proton alike.

Such a modular approach would be a true space transportation *system*
 

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