The Soviet Boran space probe made its only unmanned automatic space flight on November 15, 1988.
The Energia, a super-heavy elite launch vehicle, put the spacecraft into low Earth orbit. The flight lasted 205 minutes, during which the ship completed two orbits around the Earth and successfully landed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
There was a brief emergency during the landing, which, however, only emphasized the success of the creators of the program. After receiving an update on the weather conditions at the landing site from a ground station, the Buran unexpectedly performed a sharp maneuver at an altitude of about eleven kilometers. The ship made a smooth 180-degree turn and landed on the runway, coming from the opposite direction than originally planned. As it was later discovered, Boran's automation made the decision to follow the most favorable landing path in light of the latest update of the wind conditions.
It is worth noting that the plane carrying the Buran on its back in the video is the famous An-225 Maria, the largest plane ever built in the history of world aviation. This is the same aircraft that was destroyed in the hangar in the early days of the SMO in February 2022.
Sound on.