Antonov AN-225 Dream with Shuttle

In order to compete with the U.S. Space Shuttle program, the Soviets began their own reusable spacecraft program in 1974, under the name Buran. The program lasted a full 19 years before its cancellation in 1993. The Buran spacecraft never saw manned spaceflight, and completed only one orbital flight, on November 15, 1988.

While a very successful flight, the shuttle never flew again and was eventually destroyed in a 2002 hangar collapse. It is shown here carried on the back of the Antonov An-225, the largest fixed-wing aircraft in the world. Similar to the U.S. Shuttle/Boeing 747 arrangement, the An-225 was used to ferry Buran models around various sites in the Soviet Union. Despite the program's failure, the Buran project remains a popular topic among both spaceflight enthusiasts and current aerospace professionals.