News Energia-M discovered in Baikonur VAB

[kamaz]

Not really news, rather a historical discovery.

Some one has gained entry into Energia/Buran VAB in Baikonur. And found an Energia-M rocket inside.

Photos here: http://ralphmirebs.livejournal.com/220278.html

 

[boogabooga]

It's like Chernobyl...for rockets.

 

[Notebook]

Looks like a scene from Fallout.

N.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Some one has gained entry into Energia/Buran VAB in Baikonur. And found an Energia-M rocket inside.

Was it lost? I have a funny picture of a rocket engineer checking his pockets and looking around frantically saying "Now where did that Energiya get to...?" :lol:

---------- Post added at 10:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 AM ----------

Looks like a scene from Fallout.

Yeah, it seems the interior decorators in the former Soviet Union have really mastered the Post-Apocalyptic Style.

The teenager in me says this is freaking cool and I'd love to sneak in and explore. The engineer in me feels that this is a tragedy of so much infrastructure and flight hardware gone to seed.

 

[GLS]

Just noticed that it kinda looks like an Ariane 5, but 80s style...

 

[Artlav]

It's kind of odd to think that there are, today on Earth, ruins with spaceships in them. You'd expect that to be exclusive to sci-fi.

Just read the link - it's not the real thing, but a dynamic test mock-up. Essentially a boilerplate rocket with real engines - they were in the middle of testing the design when the program folded.

 

[K_Jameson]

What a waste. Energia M was a very promising project.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

What gets me is the rivets and the rust. Looks like a steam locomotive. Tough, but man, the mass ratio must be terrible.

 

[n72.75]

What gets me is the rivets and the rust. Looks like a steam locomotive. Tough, but man, the mass ratio must be terrible.

I could be wrong, but I wonder if it isn't rust falling off the roof and onto the vehicle.

 

[Artlav]

What gets me is the rivets and the rust.

I could be wrong, but I wonder if it isn't rust falling off the roof and onto the vehicle.

Ahem.
Look a couple posts up to #6 - it's not a flight article, so is probably just made out of steam engine steel.

 

[N_Molson]

Incredible. You don't find an Energia rocket everyday

Likely a real-scale mockup yes, but still amazing !

They could hire a guy with an old soviet surplus broom to clean the dust. Would probably not be such a crazy expense.

 

[kuddel]

If no-one is willing to make it a museum exhibit soon, it should at least be made sure that the surrounding building is kept at a reasonable "standard".
Loosing another historic space artifact to roof-collapse would be a shame.

 

[4throck]

It's something that Russia/Kazakhstan should look into seriously. Not a tourist destination for everybody, but I'm sure there would be interested people.
I wouldn't mind.... Specially if they added a good plane display.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

That looks one of the pictures I used as a reference way back when I did my version of the Energia-M. There were some other pics as well. It was from a group of young "explorers" who snuck into the facility. Informative, but dangerous.