The BOR-4 (''БОР-4'' russian: Беспилотный Орбитальный Ракетоплан 4, , "Unpiloted Orbital Rocketplane 4") flight vehicle is a scaled (1:2) prototype of the Soviet
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[VTHL
Aircraft can have different ways to take off and land. Conventional airplanes accelerate along the ground until sufficient lift (force), lift is generated for takeoff, and reverse the process to landing, land. Some airplanes can take off at low spe ...]
(vertical takeoff, horizontal landing)
spaceplane
A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes ten ...
. An uncrewed, subscale
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
, its purpose was to test the heatshield tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon for the
Buran space shuttle, then under development.
Several of them were built and flown between 1982 and 1984 from the
Kapustin Yar
Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...
launch site at speeds of up to Mach 25. After reentry, they were designed to parachute to an ocean splashdown for recovery by the
Soviet Navy. The testing was nearly identical to that carried out by the
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
ASSET program in the 1960s, which tested the heatshield design for the
X-20 Dyna-Soar
The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar ("Dynamic Soarer") was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including aerial reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite mainten ...
. On 16 March 1983 a
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. .
Flights
Seven BOR were built, and four confirmed flights took place:
* n/a – 5 December 1980 – BOR4S nº401 - suborbital flight
* Cosmos-1374 – 4 June 1982 – BOR4 nº404 – orbital flight, splashed down into the Indian Ocean. Orbit: 158 x 204km. Inclination: 50.7 degrees. Weight: possibly about 1 tonne. Number of orbits: 1.
* Cosmos-1445 – 15 March 1983 – BOR4 nº403 – orbital flight, splashed down into the Indian Ocean.
* Cosmos-1517 – 27 December 1983 – BOR4 nº405 – orbital flight, splashed down into the Black Sea.
* Cosmos-1614 – 19 December 1984 – BOR4 nº406 – orbital flight. Orbit: 176 x 223 km. Inclination: 50.7 degrees. Weight: possibly 1 tonne. Recovered after splashed down in the Black Sea.
Current locations
*BOR-4S nº401 –
Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast
Zhukovsky (russian: link=no, Жуковский, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moskva River, southeast of Moscow. Population:
History
The urban-type settlement of Stakhanovo was f ...
, Russia
*BOR-4 –
Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast
Zhukovsky (russian: link=no, Жуковский, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Moskva River, southeast of Moscow. Population:
History
The urban-type settlement of Stakhanovo was f ...
, Russia
See also
*
HL-20 Personnel Launch System
The HL-20 Personnel Launch System is a NASA spaceplane concept for crewed orbital missions studied by NASA's Langley Research Center around 1990. It was envisaged as a lifting body re-entry vehicle similar to the Soviet BOR-4 spaceplane design. ...
*
Dream Chaser
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the cargo vari ...
References
External links
Detailed page on BORs
Buran program
Crewed spacecraft
Spacecraft launched in 1982
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