Bizan Orbiter

Bizan was the 1982 Soviet air-launched spaceplane design iteration between the '49' and 'MAKS' concepts. Like the '49', it was air-launched from atop an An-124 transport. Unlike the '49', it was a single-stage-to-orbit tripropellant concept.

The rocket stage was equipped with Lox/Kerosene engines while the orbiter had reusable Lox/LH2 engines that drew propellant from the rocket stage. The advantage with the single stage was that the stage would land in the ocean across the world from the launch point. In the two-stage System 49, the first stage would crash into a drop zone 2000 km from the launching aircraft.

The rocket stage was equipped with a single NK-43A / 11D112A engine. The 15 metric ton orbiter had two RD-57M / 11D57M engines. The orbiter had a 1000 km cross range and a landing speed of 300 km/hr. One crewmember could stay aloft for mission durations of up to 24 hours. The orbiter was designed for 200 reuses and had a 6.0 m x 2.8 m payload bay. As in the '49' concept, orbits of from 120 to 1000 km altitude and 45 to 94 degrees inclination could be attained.

Crew Size: 1. Mass: 200,000 kg (440,000 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Bizan.

• Lozino-Lozinskiy, G E, editor, Aviationno-kosmicheskiye sistemy, MAI, Moscow, 1997. ISBN: 5703520681. Russian language collection of technical papers that cover the design, development, engineering, and flight test results of the BOR-4, BOR-5, Buran, and MAKS spaceplanes. Includes intermediate designs More at amazon.com...