Man Noticed This Abandoned Hangar But What’s Inside Caught Him By SurpriseWednesday, July 15, 2015 10:25

(Before It's News)

Urban explorer and photographer Ralph Mirebs found something very rare; a find unlike anything

we’ve seen before. While venturing around Kazakhstan, Ralph came across an enormous abandoned

building.

At first, the building looked similar to a large airport hangar but much larger. After breaking into it, he

realized that this was a very special building with some of the most historical items in the world.

In fact, two of the most historical items in the world! Scroll down to see these spectacular images for

yourself.

The abandoned hangar is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Cosmodrome is

miles away and still in operation today. Because the NASA Space Program was recently shut down,

this is the only area that astronauts can make their way up to the International Space Station via

Russian Soyuz space shuttles.

This hangar in particular is from a previous time when the Russians and the Americans were

competing in a race for space exploration.

The hangar was erected in 1974 for the Buran Space Shuttle Program where technology and design

would fuse to create some of the most incredible exploration vessels ever conceived. The Buran

Shuttle Program was halted in 1988 but the hangar was operational until 1993 and was the home to

three of the most advanced pieces of technology of their time.

The collapse of the Soviet Union caused the demise of this facility in 1993. Sadly, only one shuttle of

three ever partook in a mission. The shuttle completed one unmanned orbit before it was grounded

and destroyed in a different hangar that collapsed on top of it.

There are two shuttles from the Buran Space Program left and they sit in idle, turning into historic

relics, within a forgotten and abandoned building located in Kazakhstan.

 

The facility was an incredibly advanced building with atmospheric pressure control systems in place

to keep dust and debris outside of its thick walls. Those systems have been turned off and now nature

is slowly reclaiming this incredibly massive place.

The shuttles are being covered with dust and bird droppings more and more every day. The ceramic

tiles that wrap the shuttles are starting to fall off and shatter on the floor below. It’s only a matter of

time before these two pieces of space exploration history are gone forever.

Surprisingly only a few windows have been broken out but there is not much damage at all from

vandals, which is a very rare sight when it comes to almost anything abandoned these days. It’s a

good thing that urban explorers live by the motto, “Leave only footprints, take only photographs.”

These two shuttles never made it to launch. One shuttle was actually a mock-up shuttle that was

used to test fit everything that would be used to build the two fully functioning shuttles. Of those two

shuttles, only one made it to launch for an un-manned orbit. It was grounded soon after and

destroyed when the hangar it was being stored in collapsed.

The facility used to build these shuttles is absolutely massive. We can’t imagine how massive this

would be standing on the floor looking up. Isn’t it strange that there is an abandoned relic, completely

forgotten about, that contains vehicles our civilization used to travel through space?

It seems like just yesterday we were sending robots to Mars and now we have forgotten space

vehicles left abandoned.

These two shuttles need to be sitting in a museum. It’s not like you see space shuttles every day, let

alone space shuttles that have been abandoned and left to rot.

The yellow platforms show the sheer size of this facility. They are on pneumatic rollers that can move

around the shuttles and platforms in unison in order to work on them. You would think that all of this

would be highly sought after and extremely valuable.

The paint is starting to peel and the walls are starting to rust now that the climate control systems

are dead. It’s only a matter of time before this entire building crumbles to the ground, crushing two

iconic pieces of history.

It looks as if the working shuttle was just about ready for its maiden voyage before it was grounded

during the fall of the Soviet Union. With the Russian Space Program still in full effect, it surprises us

that these can be left abandoned.

But what a sight to see. Can you imagine walking into an abandoned building not fully knowing what

to expect when you enter? We think that two full space shuttles sitting completely lifeless would be

quite a shock.

Some of the ceramic tiles have fallen off but for the most part these shuttles are in great shape.

They’re just covered in years and years of dust and bird droppings.

This is the nose of the operational prototype shuttle while the shuttle sitting in the front of the

building is the test mock-up shuttle.

They are still surrounded by the working platforms which are still in excellent condition. The paint has

just started to peel which means the deterioration process has just been expedited.

This is the type of thing you would expect to see in a James Bond movie but never in real life.

It seems like it would make an incredible museum in itself. This is one of the biggest technological

advances of our short time on this planet so far.

Seeing something so beautiful and important falling apart slowly breaks my heart. That being said,

seeing it in this state is bittersweet and actually very beautiful. These images are somewhat surreal.

Just imagine seeing this place in its heyday. Russian scientists and engineers racing to press into the

future of space exploration to discover the unknown and make history! It must have been

spectacular.

Hopefully this article spreads some attention and these shuttles are restored and placed in a

museum.

The holes on the front of the nose cone are actually thrusters that would be used to slightly steer the

shuttle as it is in space. The ceramic tiles that cover the shuttle were used to protect the shell from

the insane temperatures that the shuttle would be exposed to.

The small round opening on the side of the shuttle is the entry hatch leading the Russian astronauts

into the cockpit. It’s funny to think that this small piece of metal and tile is the only thing separating

these people from the vastness of space as we know it.

From this facility, the shuttles would have been transported to the launchpad at the Baikonur

Cosmodrome which is quite a few miles away. The Cosmodrome is still used today. In fact, American

astronauts head to the International Space Station from this location.

At the time the computer power of this shuttle was less than that of the cell phone in your hand. You

would have to be a seriously brave person to take on a challenge like that.

The cockpit of the shuttle has been stripped of some of its equipment but most of it is still there.

The amount of equipment that is systematically placed throughout the fuselage is impressive!

The best part is that it’s all still there and photographer Ralph Mirebs was able to capture it all.

It looks like someone had a party in here at one point. Our guess is it was a few employees who found

out their most impressive project was just canned.

The hatch and pressure control systems look like they would turn right on and start working

immediately.

There is so much to salvage here. This door leads into the back half of the fuselage where satellites or

other space equipment would be stored and launched into the sky.

Inside you can see air tanks as well as the giant hatch above that would open allowing space

astronauts to release their equipment into orbit.

Being sealed off from the elements outside, the interior is relatively dust free and in amazing shape.

Past the rear storage compartment is a huge equipment room.

The other shuttle contains something inside that we can’t really tell whether that’s a satellite or not.

Two completely forgotten space shuttles that are sitting to rot and over time they will be crushed by

the building that once protected them. These are incredible pieces of history that should be placed in

a museum. Stumbling across some epic find when exploring abandoned or forgotten places is

inspiring. But what Ralph Mirebs found, makes this the most awesome urban exploration we’ve seen

yet!

Source: http://worldtruth.tv/

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Russia’s forgotten space agency Soviet shuttles rotting in giant derelict hangarThursday, June 11, 2015 10:54

(Before It's News)

Russia’s forgotten space agency Soviet shuttles rotting in giant derelict hangar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7j4nlDTpGo

Russia’s forgotten space agency: Haunting images reveal two abandoned Soviet shuttles rotting in giant derelict hangar Photographer Ralph Mirebs visited an abandoned hangar near the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan It houses two prototype shuttles that were part of the ill-fated Buran shuttle programme This was designed to mimic Nasa’s successful Space Shuttles which flew for 30 years But after one test flight in 1988 the main Buran shuttle – and its other sister vehicles – were scrapped. In the 1980s, a little-known chapter in the space race took place when the Soviet Union attempted to build their own version of Nasa’s Space Shuttle. But despite a successful unmanned orbital test flight the Buran vehicles were soon scrapped amid rising budget cuts and left to rot in hangars. One of the Soviet shuttles was destroyed when its hangar collapsed in 2002, but two other models remain intact and have been pictured in a stunning series of photographs. In the 1980s, a little-known chapter in the space race took place when the Soviet Union attempted to build their own version of Nasa’s Space Shuttle. But despite a successful unmanned orbital test flight the Buran vehicles were soon scrapped amid rising budget cuts and left to rot in hangars. One of the Soviet shuttles was destroyed when its hangar collapsed in 2002, but two other models remain intact and have been pictured in a stunning series of photographs. Their similarity in appearance to Nasa’s Space Shuttles is not accidental – at the time, this was deemed to be the best way to create a vehicle that could travel to and from orbit, although some have also suggested espionage was at play. The Buran shuttle was intended to be launched on the huge Energia booster, similar to the giant orange Space Transporation System used by the Space Shuttles. Like the Space Shuttles, the Buran vehicles had engines located at the back,

and two wings for a controlled landing back on Earth. Development of the programme began in 1976, with the reusable spacecraft (although the booster was not) capable of performing operations in orbit before returning to Earth. But after the one unmanned spaceflight in 1988, the programme was scrapped following the dissolution of the USSR in 1993. This was despite several other models and test vehicles being built, some of which reside in museums today. But these two shuttles in particular were simply left in the MKZ building at Baikonur Cosmodrome, with their basic structure still intact.

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