COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - The
one-time pride of the Soviet space program is making a decidedly sedate journey
to its new home, chugging up the Rhine River aboard a pontoon boat.
The Buran 002
space shuttle is headed for the Technik-Museum Speyer in southwestern Germany,
which says it has long had its eye on the spacecraft.
Soviet space officials
claimed at the time that the Buran was superior to its American rival because
of its ability to fly on autopilot and its bigger capacity, but the program was
mothballed amid chaos and fund shortages in the run-up to the 1991 Soviet
collapse. Several Buran shuttles were left rusting in hangars.
clipped from: www.space.com 
