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ArsTechnica has a story about the abandoned Soviet era Space Shuttle project.
When the project was cancelled, (along with the USSR), like so many other things in the Soviet Union at that time, the workers were sent home, the doors locked, and the entire project lies abandoned.
No attempt seems to have been made to fill museums, or salvage any of the shuttles for historical purposes.
The photos are from Ralph Mirebs from the Baikonur Cosmodrome who's page has many more. The Page is in Russian but the Google Translate version renders the descriptions to passable English.
Similar photo essays for other abandoned Soviet era projects Ekranoplan, a missile carrying ground effect vehicle designed for dash attack on naval targets or shore installations. (don't miss paging arrows at side of images).
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday June 17 2015, @03:55AM
That huge Soviet Eraknoplan is amazing. I'd like to know why that sort of technology is not more widespread. I'm guessing they're not very fuel efficient, but as a fast attack anti-ship weapon you'd think they'd be pretty good.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday June 17 2015, @05:54AM
Actually [wikipedia.org], fuel efficiency is one of the advantages over both a plane (low lift drag) and a speed boat (no contact with water, except when taking off).
Disadvantages: low manoeuvrability (low wing clearance to ground, large turn radius) at high speed - can't avoid unexpected obstacles. High speed also cause troubles in water impact on the hull - can't take off or "land" at high seas.
Need to be a risk taker to use this one on an everyday basis; may be Ok for enthusiasts or military but building a businesses on using them everyday is a risky proposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by richtopia on Wednesday June 17 2015, @02:35PM
The use case was very specific. Russia (largely land based) looked into ground effect vehicles for deployment in places like the Caspian Sea. They are rapid troop transports, and by that nature only relevant when time is a critical element to a maneuver.
Perhaps a country like Italy would benefit if they needed to project military power over the Mediterranean. Another issue with ground effect vehicles is how weather dependent they are; you cannot fly over a storm and they are not nearly as rugged as a true boat. This removes their usefulness for the open ocean.
The last issue is the dependence on water. We don't use boat planes for general aviation anymore either for many of the same reasons.