@UoMDeacon: Buran wasn't a knock off. For one thing, it could fly unmanned and land automatically - a feat that NASA can't pull off to this day. Second, it had substantially different shape, different engines, different booster rocket, different pretty much _everything_. It's as much of a Shuttle copy as Chevy SUV is a copy of a Ford SUV.
Yes, the capabilities were different, considering it came after the original shuttle, but take a look at the shape and size and tell me that it wasn't "inspired" by the US version? I'm not saying it wasn't as good as the US version, I'm just saying you have to admit that it was too strikingly similar to have been designed independently.
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@UoMDeacon: Buran wasn't a knock off. For one thing, it could fly unmanned and land automatically - a feat that NASA can't pull off to this day. Second, it had substantially different shape, different engines, different booster rocket, different pretty much _everything_. It's as much of a Shuttle copy as Chevy SUV is a copy of a Ford SUV.
Yes, the capabilities were different, considering it came after the original shuttle, but take a look at the shape and size and tell me that it wasn't "inspired" by the US version? I'm not saying it wasn't as good as the US version, I'm just saying you have to admit that it was too strikingly similar to have been designed independently.