Leaving aside the somewhat unfair dismissal of the differences that were found in the Russian orbiter design (and those of the Energiya booster and the AN-225 shuttle transport -all three of which were,sadly, denied the chance to truly shine), Buran did make it into orbit in 1988...
...which is more than can be said for OV-101, I might add.
Fair enough on Buran, though it was an unmanned orbit.
True - but it was still quite a feat, not least since it, ironically, launched in a blizzard, and getting an orbiter to make a successful automated landing is a trickier feat than having a capsule know when to pop its parachutes.
But it seems to me that the Soviet shuttle design was an obvious attempt to copy and improve the US shuttle design. Energia seems like it was an actual accomplishment, on the other hand.
Well,
Buran herself had its differences - not least the increased cargo capacity, due to the Energia doing all of the lifting into orbit, but also a number of minor differences in things like the layout of its ceramic heat shield (which didn't have the RCC panels that caused disaster for
Columbia) and the aforementioned automater system that the Shuttle didn't get a version of until 2006.
Of course, I'm weary of naming anything after vessels of an institutionally corrupt, tyrannical government responsible for more deaths than Adolf Hitler in the first place.
I'd sooner think of it as honouring the expertise and experience of the scientists and engineers involved in the Soviet/Russian space program - who had been breaking the mould since the days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin - and whose legacy lives on in the present-day RFSA, not least in the Russian components to be found in the International Space Station.
The whole point of the version of space exploration that Trek is supposed to be about is that we are all in this together - and honouring the Russian contribution to the exploration of space should be part of that.
And not just by putting a certain bridge officer who (used to) look like a younger version of a notorious Psi Corps agent on the bridge of the NCC-1701!
Oh, as an aside, an NX named after the
Kliper would be pretty neat, too... and hopefully the Russians will be able to get that particular vessel into service in time for it to become part of United Earth's history!
Would these be some good potential NX-class names?
I'd like
Buran to be NX-07, and either
Ptichka or
Kliper as NX-08 - with the other as NX-10.
(And maybe
Buran's warp engine could be nicknamed
Energia!)
