Первый полет МТКС Энергия Буран / First flight of Energia - Buran

November 15th, 1988. Baikonur Chromosome, launch pad 110/35. T minus 18 seconds. Universal transport rocket-space system “Energy-Buran” is ready for launch. 12 years in the making this day was preceded by launch abort on 29th of October. With millions of viewers watching the broadcast on live TV the tension was palpable... Launch objective was to continue flight testing of Energia rocket and verify functioning of enitre structure, including onboard systems of Buran orbital spacecraft during most stresfful segments of the flight - launch and de-orbit with a minimum orbital distance. For safety reasons Buran’s first flight was set as unmanned with full automation of all dynamic operations up to taxiing on the runway. The automated launch sequence performed as specified: After boosting itself to a higher orbit and completing two orbits around the Earth, the ODU (Russian: объединённая двигательная установка, сombined propulsion system) engines fired automatically to begin the descent into the atmosphere, r