Photographer Visits Russian Target to Photograph Abandoned Spacecraft
How one man got into a secret facility that housed the Soviet Union's last experimental spaceships.
By Julian Morgan
This is the story of an anonymous photographer as written to Julian Morgans.
You're looking at a decrepit Russian space shuttle, covered in dust and forgotten in a launch facility. It is a remnant of a failed attempt to build a reusable spacecraft as part of the Buran program. Based on designs stolen from NASA, the program ran from 1974 to 1993, costing billions, and successfully launched one shuttle in 1988.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the program was halted and half-finished space shuttles were left to rot around the former Soviet empire. One shuttle was destroyed in 2002 when its hanger was destroyed in a storm, and another prototype is currently housed in a German museum. These two shuttles at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan may be the only other survivors.
Only a few people have taken pictures of these planes. Today we hear from one of them. He is a European-based Urbex photographer who does not want his name published for fear it would make the international travel that is part of his job difficult.
He explains in his own words how he got into the hideout, how he escaped, and how Russian agents have been on his back ever since. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
I first read about the Buran program online and I thought well, it's on my list. It seemed like the pinnacle for every urban explorer – in October 2015 I visited Kazakhstan.
Now, the facilities are huge. It is 40 miles away, 90 kilometers from the desert with hundreds of launchers left over from the Cold War. A few of the launch pads are still active - that's where they launch rockets to the International Space Station. But the main challenge is that the target shuttle hangar is 25 miles from the main road. Then the other problem is that you can't drive a car because there's nowhere to hide it. After that, the patrol jeeps are constantly driving around.
I spent the trip watching the binoculars, learning what time the patrols went. I had no plan. I avoided patrolling until I got this idea and collected data to learn how to get through the desert without a car - a bike! Because once you're inside, you can ride your bike on the asphalt road. I had to cover the distance on a road, including one about 20 km from the main road.
I went back home and made a plan. I ordered a folding bike and kept an eye out for launches. You can look up the launch schedule online and I wanted to spend as little activity time as possible. So I noticed that there were no launches in August 2016. There was a full moon day in the middle of the month which made night travel easier. So that became the plan.
The first place he checked stopped. The bike is on the lower right.
I flew in on a Friday night and it was easy at first. I found somewhere to hide my car - a pile of old tires, carpets and garbage in the desert. So while I was covering the car with carpets and tires, this patrol car drove right past. But they think I'm doing a dump like the locals,.
But still, I knew they had changed their patrol route to see what I was doing. So I knew I had to make a new plan, so I went 7 km further east. The next night there I found a tomb where I thought I could stop and no one would question.
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