[7b64f0f2]

This makes me think of the current book i'm reading about the Soviet space shuttle [1].

They started building it because of military paranoia. They did copy some of the design but it was to be able to accomplish the same type of mission. If I remember correctly, notably polar orbits. The west calls it a shuttle copy, I think it's probably more a design convergence.

Buran was able to fly by itself, it was boosted by modular liquid fuel rocket [2]. The book goes into details about the differences between the two and a bit of history pre-shuttle, programs like the spiral space planes. It's also humbling when you find out that people in the ~1900 thought about going to other planets [3].

[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1712747.Energiya_Buran [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energia [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rockets#Early_20th-...

[pinewurst]

Book recommendation: Soviet SST: The Techno-Politics Of The Tupolev-144

Long out of print but an excellent book

https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-SST-Techno-Politics-Howard-Moo...