the Buran’s second flight was formally cancelled. The American space shuttle is commonly regarded as the most sophisticated man-made machine ever built. The Buran was similarly complicated ...

He is due to return to Earth on Mar. 22, after a record 438 days in space. Learn more about the shuttle and Mir flights pose new challenges. See the cover of the February 20, 1995 issue.

That the shuttle and Buran look nearly identical proves only ... A fictional docking with the Mir space station is depicted with a puffy-faced cosmonaut, Gennady Strekalov, waving amiably at ...