The BOR-4 (БОР-4 Russian: Беспилотный Орбитальный Ракетоплан 4, Bespilotnyi Orbital'nyi Raketoplan 4, "Unpiloted Orbital Rocketplane 4") flight vehicle is a scaled (1:2) prototype of the Soviet Spiral VTHL (vertical takeoff, horizontal landing) spaceplane. An uncrewed, subscale spacecraft, its purpose was to test the heatshield tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon for the Buran space shuttle, then under development.[1]
| BOR-4S | |
|---|---|
 BOR-4S nº401 at MAKS Airshow in Zhukovskiy, 2005 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Uncrewed 1:2 scale re-entry test vehicle |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Manufacturer | NPO Molniya |
| Number built | 7 |
| History | |
| First flight | 5 December 1980 |
Several of them were built and flown between 1982 and 1984 from the Kapustin Yar launch site at speeds of up to Mach 25, using K65-RB5 variant of Kosmos-3M launch vehicle.[2] 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 ASSET program in the 1960s, which tested the heatshield design for the X-20 Dyna-Soar. On 16 March 1983[3]: 207 a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft captured the first Western images of the craft as it was recovered by a Soviet ship near the Cocos Islands.[4]
Flights
Seven BOR were built, and four confirmed flights took place between 1982 and 1984.[5][6] All orbital flights were launched using Kosmos-3M rockets at the Kapustin Yar launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia[7]
| Mission | Launch date (UTC) |
Landing date (UTC) |
Recovery site | Orbit | Duration (in orbit) |
Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kosmos 1374 | 3 June 1982 21:36 |
3 June 1982 23:04 |
17°S 98°E Indian Ocean |
158 x 204 km | 1 hour, 28 minutes | Success[3] |
| Kosmos 1445 | 15 March 1983 22:33 |
16 March 1983 00:25 |
Indian Ocean | 158 x 208 km | 1 hour, 52 minutes | Success |
| Kosmos 1517 | 27 December 1983 10:04 |
27 December 1983 11:46 |
Black Sea | 212 x 217 km | 1 hour, 42 minutes | Success |
| Kosmos 1614 | 19 December 1984 04:04 |
19 December 1984 05:26 |
Black Sea | 174 x 223 km | 1 hour, 22 minutes | Partial failure. Spacecraft lost at sea during recovery[3] |
Current locations
- BOR-4S nº401 – Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia[8]
- BOR-4 – Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia[8]
See also
References
External links
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