The temptation for the Soviet Union to create a shuttle system of its own was too great, and work began in the mid 1970s, before the American spaceplane even flew.

For nearly two decades, the Soviet Union attempted to beat the United States in the space race with its own fleet of space shuttles. Here's the story of the final Soviet shuttle's last ride.

The Buran was the Soviet Union’s answer to NASA's Space Shuttle, featuring innovations like automated flight and superior safety mechanisms. But after a single flight in 1988, the program was shelved.

“In retrospect, the idea of a space bomber seems ludicrous. In 1974, both the US and the Soviet Union had a vast array of intercontinental ballistic missiles at their disposal that could launch ...

On July 17, 1975, an American Apollo crew and a Soviet Soyuz crew met up in Earth orbit for the first time, setting the ...

In 1975, a meet-up between American and Soviet spacefarers in orbit showed that the superpowers could work together. Its ...

A full-size mockup of a Soviet Buran space shuttle is departing Moscow for an exhibition center opening at the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

And the Soviet Union’s last spaceplane is owned, not by Russia or Kazakhstan, but by Dauren Musa, a Kazakh Billionaire who is willing to trade it — for the skull of Kazakhstan’s last Khan. To ...

It was about to make a second flight in automatic mode, docking to the Soviet space station Mir. The second shuttle is a full-size static mock-up for mating and load tests.

Russia’s space agency says it wants to move an abandoned Soviet-era Buran space shuttle to a museum after urban explorers “infiltrated” a storage facility in Kazakhstan and apparently ...

When the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Fla., for its April 12, 1981 maiden voyage, it ushered in a new and exciting age of space travel and ...

Russia’s space agency says it wants to move an abandoned Soviet-era Buran space shuttle to a museum after urban explorers “infiltrated” a storage facility in Kazakhstan and apparently ...