Man's Hope

by Zellmann, William

  The first stop was the Buran that was stored outside, and even as they drove up to it, Frank was struck by how small it was and how dilapidated it looked. It seemed wrong, somehow. Spacecraft were supposed to be bright and gleaming machines, straining toward the heavens.

  David and Sergei, who apparently knew Maria, piled out and began talking over one another in their excitement. David grabbed his arm and dragged him under the orbiter, still covered in black heat-control tiles. He pulled Frank to the opening for the forward landing gear and pointed. "See what I mean, Frank? I think the corrosion is pretty much out of control on this one. If we have any other choices, I'd say to skip this one."

  Frank nodded. The once silver aluminum was nearly covered with white corrosion. Unless the inside was a lot better, David was right. Frank hoped they could afford to skip this one.

  There was no lock on the hatch, and, with flashlights, they explored the interior. It was not as bad as the outside, but Frank still hoped they could just strip parts from this one. He set Sergei to finding and counting missing heat tiles and they walked around the back of the orbiter. Frank noticed that there were no engines. Buran orbiters did not have main engines like the American shuttles; all the main engines were on the boosters. But they did have maneuvering thrusters, and these were missing. He mentioned it.

  Maria shrugged. "They said this was a test model."

  Frank breathed a sigh of relief. The information he had gained from the internet had said that there were three Burans at Baikonur; one static test model, one engineering mockup, and one flight Buran. The test model should have been identical to the flight ship, but somehow Frank hoped the one he bought was the flight bird. Of course, he was also curious about the 'engineering mockup'. Would it be a complete ship? Or just a fuselage? or even less?

  Apparently, it was less. It was the framework of the orbiter's fuselage, but didn't even have a skin. What appeared to be miles of wiring ran through holes in the aluminum bulkheads making up the framework, with thousands of wires simply hanging loose. Russia could keep this one!

  Frank was getting nervous. Two times at bat, two strikeouts. Oh, the outside ship could provide vital parts, especially the specially designed heat control tiles. There were no "standard" tiles. The Russians had used a computer to design each tile to accommodate the curvature, protrusions, and grooves it was to cover. Apparently, no two tiles were exactly alike. This meant that the only place to get a replacement for a lost or damaged tile was from another Buran. Luckily, Sergei had only counted four missing tiles on what he was coming to call the "outside" Buran. He was becoming nervous about examining the "inside" Buran. He tried to cheer himself by hoping that the two test models shown on his list as "location unknown" would also be here. But it didn't help. His hopes were coming to rest on the "inside" Buran. His heart leapt as they pulled up to a huge hangar marked "112." This was where that picture of a Buran mounted on the booster was taken in 2001. The Buran in the picture had looked good. Could it still be in there?

  Yes, it could. Under a thick coat of dust on one end of the darkened hangar, sat a Buran. Sergei and David went looking to see if they could find a way to open the hangar doors, while Frank began walking around the ship with his flashlight. He ducked under the Buran, and duckwalked to the landing gear opening, waving his way through spider webs. He flashed his light into every corner, but spotted only minor corrosion. This could be it!

  Suddenly, the hangar was bathed in light as David found a switch. A moment later, a loud screeching and rumbling announced the opening of the huge doors.

  "Look!" cried Sergei. "Only three tiles missing, and see, they're on the floor beneath!"

  Frank grinned. Things were looking better and better. David found a ladder, and they climbed up to the hatch. It opened easily.

  The pilot's compartment was complete, even containing the ejection seats. The passenger compartment beneath it was equally complete, though as above, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. No one had been here in years. They moved into the cargo bay, to find it also apparently complete. This was no hulk. It was a ship!

  A shout from David brought him to the front of the cargo bay. "Do you know what this is?" David asked excitedly. Frank looked. It was barrel-shaped, with pipes and hoses on the outside, and evidently protruding through the top of the cargo bay. Frank shrugged. "No idea."

  "Damn, Frank, it's the one thing missing on these orbiters," he was practically dancing with excitement. "It's an airlock and docking collar! They were rigging it to mate with a space station. Maybe Soyuz, or maybe even the ISS. I'd say this is the one we want!"

  Frank snickered. "I think we may want to look at it a bit more closely before deciding that," he said.

  They scoured the cluttered hangar, but didn't find the big Energia booster, though there appeared to be a lot of equipment and even parts apparently for the Buran.

  They were again in the pilot's compartment when the driver shouted up in Russian. Maria hurried down the ladder. "Phone call," explained Sergei. "The Director was calling for her."

  "I'd call for her, too," David muttered

  Maria came back in moments, hurrying just as fast as she had left. "You have a telephone call, Mr. Weatherly," she gasped between pants. "It's from Moskva. Deputy Head Gorneliev's office. Please come now. We cannot keep the Deputy Head waiting!"

  "Ah, Mister Weatherly," Gorneliev's secretary answered. "The Deputy Head would like to know if you can be available here at 1300, day after tomorrow?"

  "Of course. Please tell Deputy Head Gorneliev I will be there. I don't know the flight schedules to Baikonur. I may have to have a charter fly in. But I will be there."

  There was a pause on the other end, then Gorneliev's voice came on. "Don't worry about that old Tupelev. I will send an aircraft for you. It will arrive tomorrow. We need a meeting."

  Frank gaped at the phone. "Yes, sir. I'll be there!" Frank did not know how to react to this message. He'd been expecting the call back to Moscow. But what could be urgent enough to Gorneliev to make it desirable to send a plane? Of course, it was urgent to him, but the Burans had been sitting around for over twenty years. Why the urgency now?

  The plane Gorneliev sent was a sleek Ilyushin business jet. Frank suspected it was Gorneliev's own transportation. In a few hours they were landing at Ramenskoye Airport, south of Moscow, a semi-military base and flight test center for new Russian aircraft. A late-model Mercedes was waiting for him, and he learned that he was staying in the same room of the same hotel he'd occupied before. He was getting VIP treatment. Why?

  He spent the evening reviewing the report he'd given Gorneliev, the notes he, David and Sergei had made, and worrying about the coming meeting.

  Chapter 3

  When he arrived, he was whisked directly into Gorneliev's office, where he found not just Gorneliev, but also two other middle-aged, suit-clad men. Both had a look that screamed "businessman," not "government man." One of them simply nodded politely, but the other positively beamed, and gave Frank an excited nod of his head.

  Gorneliev took the lead. "Good morning, Mr. Weatherly," he began. "Please allow me to introduce Gennady Stoltznitz, a Vice President at NPO Molniya, and Dr. Anton Ternayev, Deputy Director of Engineering at RKK Energia." Stoltznitz, a rather portly man with the look of a bookkeeper, merely nodded again. Ternayev, however, bounced to his feet and pumped Frank's hand enthusiastically. "I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Weatherly. I have seen your plan, and I am most enthusiastic about it." Ternayev was a rather short man, with a medium build and light brown hair. But enthusiasm showed in every line of his body. Frank suspected he had a true believer.

  Frank looked at Gorneliev, who merely shrugged. "You authorized me to show the briefing to anyone, and what you don't know is that much of the Buran equipment and data belong to these two companies, not the government."

  Frank nodded. "I see," he replied noncommittally. The four of them adjourned to a conference room next door to Gorneliev's office.
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  "So," Gorneliev began when they were all settled and had a cup of the lethal Russian coffee, "have you examined the Burans at Baikonur?"

  Frank nodded. "Yes, in a general way. I have not had the chance to examine them in detail. I have seen two Burans and an engineering mockup that was little more than a skeleton. One of the Burans has been stored outside for some time. It suffers from weathering and severe corrosion of the airframe. I am not sure it is repairable. The other Buran, however, seems perfect for my purposes. Corrosion appears to be minimal, and it appears to be complete."

  Gorneliev cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yes," he began slowly, "There is a problem with that one, however. You see, Russia does not own that one. It belongs to Kazakhstan."

  Frank looked puzzled. "Really? I wasn't aware that Kazakhstan had a space program."

  Gorneliev shook his head. "They don't. But when kazakhstan gained its independence, Russia insisted on being allowed to lease Baikonur. The kazakhs decided that if the country was to host a cosmodrome, they should at least have a space vessel. So, as part of the lease, they insisted that they must be given a 'space ship'. Buran was the only space vessel at Baikonur that fit their preconceptions of what constituted a 'space ship'. So, they were given Buran OK-1K2, the one you examined. The lease also requires that we store the Buran 'until such time as the government of Kazakhstan should have need of it.' I estimate that will be sometime in the 23rd century."

  Frank sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to go to the Kazakh capital."

  Ternayev replied. "They would not sell it to you, Mr. Weatherly. They consider it an important part of the Kazakh 'heritage'" he grinned. "However, all may not be lost. If we can come to an agreement, I'm certain that a repairable, flyable Buran can be located-one way or another." He grinned, but Gorneliev's frown said he wasn't happy about the statement.

  "To continue," Gorneliev said, "From your summary, it was obvious that you were placing much emphasis on a photo taken in 2001, showing the Buran in a hangar at Baikonur, mounted on the Energia booster. I'm sorry to tell you that it was disassembled that same year. There had been some consideration given to reviving the Buran program at that time, but other proposals were adopted. The booster you saw was reclaimed by Energia, though it remained at Baikonur for some time. I am uncertain of its present location."

  Frank nodded. "I understand. I actually did not expect the entire assembly to be sitting in the hangar after ten years, waiting for me. Well, to be honest, I hoped, but I didn't really expect it. Dr. Ternayev, your words indicate that an agreement is possible. May we discuss it?"

  Gorneliev smiled. "Of course, Mr. Weatherly. The two companies and the Russian government have discussed your program at length. We have concluded that it is interesting, and perhaps even possible. However, since much of the information and equipment you desire to purchase is the property of these two companies, any agreement will of necessity require their participation.

  "NPO Molniya is the company that originally built the Burans, and was responsible for much of the testing. Nearly all of the engineering data you require is in their possession." Stoltznitz, who had been sitting stone-faced so far, nodded soberly.

  "And of course, RKK Energia," Gorneliev continued, "is the company that designed the booster for Buran which, I might add, functioned perfectly in the single completed launch. Dr Ternayev, as you will have noticed, has become a very active proponent of your plan."

  Ternayev nodded enthusiastically. "Do you know, sir, that we still have plans to use the heavy-lift booster? We call it 'Vulkan'. And the one you saw in that photo does still exist. But I think we can upgrade the entire booster and raise the payload significantly."

  Frank nodded. "I saw that on your website. It looked very interesting. And since the U.S. retired the Saturn V, no other available booster approaches the payloads possible with your booster. If the air launch idea fails, I had already planned to discuss buying a booster from your company."

  Ternayev grinned widely. "Yes, I noticed in your briefing how much emphasis you placed on the air launch concept. The reason it was discarded was simple; the Mriya, the Antonov 225, did not have sufficient capacity to lift both the Buran and the fully-fueled booster, and of course the Buran did not have onboard main engines, like the American Shuttle.

  "I have been giving it some thought on my own, though, and I suspect that it might barely be possible with today's technology; perhaps upgraded aircraft engines and only partially filling the booster tank. I have not, how you say, 'run the numbers', though, so I may be wrong."

  "At any rate," Gorneliev interjected, trying to drag Ternayev back to the subject at hand, "It seems that everything you want is available, after a fashion. Much of the work was done on computers of the time, and you will probably have to design a special computer to operate and translate the software. However, I understand that you made most of your money in the computer industry; you will know better than I what will be required.

  "So," he continued, "I cannot provide all you have asked for the fifty million you offered, since few of the items you need belong to the Russian government. Realizing this, I entered into discussions with the two companies involved, and we have come up with a proposal I hope you will find interesting, especially given your interest in air launch.

  "Molniya and Energia are both involved in a project called 'Kliper/Parom'. Have you heard of it?

  Frank shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I was able to manage only a brief bit of research on the Internet before arriving in Russia. It's not the same as the PTK-NP? Or TKS? Or ACTS?"

  Gorneliev shook his head, his expression sad. "No, it is none of those. You have put your finger on one of the major problems with the space program of the Russian Federation. We have too many companies competing for government contracts. It seems as though every week I have someone in here from Energia or Khrunichev, with a new design that is certain to put a man on the moon in a month." He glanced at Ternayev. "I'm sorry, Anton, but it is true."

  "No," he continued, "it is none of those. I am given to understand that you do not feel that capsule-style craft are the answer. No, Kliper/Parom involves development of a ship, smaller than the Buran, perhaps to be air launched. It would be launched in two stages. First Parom, the space tug, will be launched. Then the Kliper will be air launched to low-Earth orbit, where it will dock with Parom, and both will continue to the International Space Station or beyond."

  Frank nodded. "I think I read about it on the Internet. Are you depending upon the AN-225, or do you have another, larger aircraft in mind?"

  Surprisingly, it was Stoltznitz who replied. "We plan to use the AN-225 in the early stages, for testing. But at some point we may have to invest in an even larger aircraft." He shrugged. "We are, of course, working closely with RKK Energia in designing the propulsion systems. At present, we are researching the possibilities of ion propulsion for long-range missions." He dug into a worn-looking briefcase, and retrieved a large stack of papers. Some were obviously brightly-colored sales brochures, and others were covered with formulas and numbers. "This is detailed information on the program," he added.

  Gorneliev was frowning, and Frank suspected Stoltznitz had derailed a carefully planned sales job. "Uh, yes," he interrupted. "We have been searching for investment partners to help develop this project, but the response has been, well, disappointing. However, we feel that could change. If the great tycoon Mr. Frank Weatherly was to publicly invest, say, one hundred million U.S. dollars in the project, we suspect others will follow, and the Russian space program will once again make headlines." He sat back in his chair expectantly.

  The other shoe had dropped. Frank frowned, deep in thought. He had expected them to raise the price on him; his visible desperation had made that inevitable. The fifty mil had been his starting point. But a hundred million was a lot of money. How much value could he get for his hundred million? Molniya he considered nearly out of the picture. The Burans already existed, and he would be updating them h
is way. All they had were the engineering and design specs he would need for the updating.

  Energia, though! He would need them to be involved almost from the start, especially if, as Ternayev had claimed, the air launch idea would not work. He had not been flattering Ternayev; Energia had the biggest and baddest boosters around. Their involvement would be essential. And Ternayev's enthusiasm would be worth at least a million!

  He had no faith in the Kliper/Parom project. It was an obvious government fueled boondoggle, and he was not happy having his name connected with it. On the other hand, it was the only program around that was working on a ship, rather than just a capsule. And who knew? He might even be able to help them develop it into a real spacecraft.

  He shuffled the large stack of papers Stoltznitz had provided. "A hundred million U.S. is a lot of money, gentlemen. May I have a few days to look over this information and do some research?"

  Gorneliev's usual smile was back. He had delivered the bad news, and he was sure he had Frank hooked. He could afford to be accommodating. "Of course! Of course!" he boomed. "Take the time you need. Just call my secretary to arrange an appointment."

  As soon as he cleared the building, Frank called David on his cell phone, and told him that he would be sending a chartered plane to Baikonur to pick him up him and Paul. "Don't expect a luxury barge like the one they sent for me. But I need you here, as soon as possible."

  Frank arranged the charter with the help of the hotel staff, and David and Paul arrived the next day.

  Frank tossed them Stoltznitz's pile of papers. "Take a look at this stuff. I suspect most of it is propaganda and sales brochures, but there may be enough factual information to form a judgment."

  David looked up, puzzled. "This is about the Kliper project. I thought that ended in '06 or '07."

  "Well," Frank replied, "It did, and it didn't. The Russians stopped development of it for money reasons, and they weren't able to get funding from anyone else. But technically, it was just 'suspended'. Their latest project, the PTK-NP, doesn't look like it's going anywhere, either. Khrunichev has pretty much absorbed most of the Russian space industry, and Molniya and Energia badly need a success. That's why they've dug up this strictly Russian, Molniya/Energia project.