Documentary filmmaker Joe Hattab visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome and explored the Soviet orbital spacecraft Buran, El.kz reports. The visit became part of a large-scale episode dedicated to Kazakhstan.
One of the World’s Most Popular Travel Creators Reaches Baikonur
Joe Hattab is widely regarded as one of the leading Arab YouTubers, with a combined audience of over 44 mln followers across all platforms.
During his visit to Baikonur, he entered the assembly and fueling complex hangar where the Buran 1.02orbital vehicle is housed. The spacecraft was built for launch but never flew. For more than three decades, it has remained in the same spot. Its exterior, cockpit, and thermal protection tiles have all been preserved.
What Is Buran and Why Is It Still at Baikonur?
Buran completed its only spaceflight on 15 November 1988. Launched into orbit by the Energia rocket, the spacecraft made two revolutions around Earth before landing at the Yubileyny airfield. The mission was fully unmanned, with the onboard computer continuously processing wind data and adjusting the flight path to ensure a precise landing.
While Baikonur became part of Kazakhstan, most of the project’s development had taken place in Russia. As a result, the second flight-ready orbiter remained in its hangar. The total cost of the Buran program reached 17.8 bln Soviet rubles in 1990 prices.
What Hattab Saw
At the open-air section of the Baikonur Museum, visitors can board an orbital shuttle and enter its payload bay. A full tour of the museum complex can take more than five hours.
In his documentaries, Hattab often explores locations that few people have ever been allowed to access, telling their stories through the experiences of real individuals. Baikonur, with its abandoned Soviet space shuttle, fits perfectly into that approach perhaps even more so than many of the places he has featured before.
