14 DAY TRIAL // If there's something really disheartening about high-tech human development being laid out at the mercy of the elements, Russians seem to be champions in portraying the decadence of rotting spaceships in the Russian tundra.
Not long ago, a string of photos captured by Russian photographer Ralph Mirebs of the Buran shuttles rotting in some dilapidated hangars in Baikonur became viral. The shuttles themselves were kept in the same intact place they were last placed at the end of the '80s, after Russia ended its Buran space shuttle program caused by a lack of funds and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Forgotten in the sands of the Caucasus, the Baikonur hangars are falling apart letting the elements slowly destroy what was once the ultimate development of Soviet engineering.
However, the Buran mania didn't end, and Russian romantic photographers seem to easily find other depressing relics of the forgotten Soviet space shuttle program scattered all across the country. This time, the photos belonging to Aleksander Markin capture the original Buran wooden model that was used for wind tunnel testing.
Economy, politics and even nature don't show any mercy to the Buran Space Shuttle Program
This scale model was used for tests so Russian engineers could figure out how the final machine would fare returning to Earth. Apparently, the photos aren't exactly new, since they were first uploaded in 2013; however, they entered the public's attention recently thanks to the Baikonur Burans' rise in popularity.
The wooden Burans are the 1:3 scale model of the Buran Space Shuttle, but this time while not rotting in some massive steel and glass grave, they are integrating with Mother Nature, and while the last proof of crafty human hands can still be seen in Buran's shape, the wooden fuselage turns back to its "roots" as moss and rust cover the entire machine while Nature claims back its own.
