The Cosmodrone IRL *imgs* (Destiny)

by stabbim , Des Moines, IA, USA, Monday, June 15, 2015, 13:20 (3689 days ago) @ Schedonnardus

Wow. I don't think the Russian government usually gives photographers access to places like this, most likely he had to sneak in. His write-up probably says what happened, but I don't know any Russian.

Those photos are so creepy. There's something really saddening about a program that got so far and just had to be abandoned. Lots of smart people worked very hard toward a dream that they probably could have reached if they'd been allowed the chance.

It's interesting how similar their shuttle looks to the American version. I wonder if that's because they intentionally copied ours (not a terrible idea, since that design was already known to work), or if they started on their own and that just happened to be the optimal design for a reusable orbiter, given the technology available at the time. Probably the former.