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Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

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Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#21

Post by betandr »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #7
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because scrapping it would've cost a small fortune and what's left over just wouldn't be worth it.

In the UK you only have to leave something on the pavement and scrap metal hunters will come by and take it ... seems like there has to be a net gain to scrapping this much metal - if it were a ship then salvage companies would have had it already. I'm surprised that they didn't post a guard there with clean up duty to at least keep it all from rusting in to the ground. Wonder how much it would be to buy and whether…

I would definitely visit a "secret Russian space base"! Especially if it was inside a mountain! ;)

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#23

Post by chrisacree »

How abandoned is the hangar? There are some other people in the photos, and no matter how isolated the area is, surely the nearest town or two has wandered into the giant complex up the road a few times.

Still, it's amazing that this is the sort of thing people can just potentially wander into. Really makes you want to go explore the world.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#24

Post by ricardonunez »

Osmium wrote: post #11

I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Not that it's always the right call, but to be able to avoid the 'sunk cost fallacy'[1] on this scale is something that large governments/companies seem rarely capable of. That said, in this case, maybe they just didn't have a choice and ran out of money... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment

I agreed. I have thought the same thing about the Superconducting Super Collider. Imagine the thoughts on the people that had to walk away from these projects.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#25

Post by rbanffy »

Osmium wrote: post #11

I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way. Not that it's always the right call, but to be able to avoid the 'sunk cost fallacy'[1] on this scale is something that large governments/companies seem rarely capable of. That said, in this case, maybe they just didn't have a choice and ran out of money... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment

> I think being able to walk away from a project like this is actually quite commendable, in a way.

Oddly enough, this is much easier to do without a democracy. It was not what happened there (it was the Soviet Union's collapse that did it) but the reasoning stands.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#26

Post by rbanffy »

jpatokal wrote: post #18

On reading up, "finding" isn't quite accurate, as the locations of these two shuttles were perfectly well known. They're OK-1K2 and OK-4M on Wikipedia's list below, located in MZK building 80, area 112a, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_sp... However, obviously sneaking in to take pictures is not an everyday occurrence, it's still a Russian military base and p…

It's perfectly possible the photographer had no idea of what he would find. Not everyone knows where the Soviet shuttles are. It's still a find, if not a discovery. No pun intended.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#27

Post by TeMPOraL »

jpatokal wrote: post #18

On reading up, "finding" isn't quite accurate, as the locations of these two shuttles were perfectly well known. They're OK-1K2 and OK-4M on Wikipedia's list below, located in MZK building 80, area 112a, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_sp... However, obviously sneaking in to take pictures is not an everyday occurrence, it's still a Russian military base and p…

He not only managed to sneak inside the base, he apparently made it into the shuttle itself. If the last photo is a picture of him, he's dressed in military clothing, so maybe he just blended in and no one bothered to check him.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#28

Post by byerley »

ourmandave wrote: post #2

This reminds me of the cancelled Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. The argument to keep building it was they'd already invested billions and it would cost millions of dollars to stop building it. I guess that cost would have been from contract guarantees to the builders or something. Looks like when the Soviets stop building something they just walk away.

The arguments to keep building it were almost as stupid as the arguments to stop building it.

I recall hateful accusations of "mismanagement" that boiled down to supplying liquor at a Christmas party. Drunk physicists... the horror. Oh, and the fact that our contribution to the ISS had roughly the same cost estimate meant... for some reason, that it was prudent to choose between to the two.

Re: Photos from inside the Baikonur Cosmodrome

#29

Post by Paul_S »

jpatokal wrote: post #18

On reading up, "finding" isn't quite accurate, as the locations of these two shuttles were perfectly well known. They're OK-1K2 and OK-4M on Wikipedia's list below, located in MZK building 80, area 112a, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme#Buran-class_sp... However, obviously sneaking in to take pictures is not an everyday occurrence, it's still a Russian military base and p…

I'm sure it's not impossible to come to an arrangement with the locals to go and have a look at the shuttles.
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