TVA-DZ

Airframe no.

0.15

Energia designator

n/a

Alt. designators

OK-015, TVA-DZ (*Termo-Vibro-Akusticheskiye [ispytaniya] — Dopolnitelnyy Zakaz* | Thermal-Vibration-Acoustic [testing] — Additional Order)

TVA-DZ — Termo-Vibro-Akusticheskiye [ispytaniya] — Dopolnitelnyy Zakaz (Thermal-Vibration-Acoustic [testing] — Additional Order)

Airframe segments used for thermal, acoustic and vibration tests at TsAGI in preparation for second series orbiter production. Most likely scrapped.

Only the aft fuselage segment is explicitly mentioned in a 1992 “distribution of ships” document, but the designation and description on the MAP list suggest that similar sections of the airframe were produced to the ones under the designation 0.05 or OK-TVA. And indeed a forward fuselage segment has been photographed at the TMZ and on the same test stands as OK-TVA which bears features of the “second series” design and has a short segment of the mid fuselage attached behind the forward bulkhead (just long enough to include the full nose orbiter attachment point interface on the underside) and a cabin pressure vessel inside, same as OK-TVA.

Press enter or click to view image in full size Press enter or click to view image in full size

Forward fuselage of what is likely to be 0.15 on TsAGI and Molniya test stands. Images: NPO Molniya via buran.ru (left, center), NPO Molniya (right) The pictured article has previously been described as 4K, or the second flight article of the additional order, which was cancelled in 1989, but the forward fuselage is almost completely tiled, despite never having been attached to the rest of the fuselage. Photos of earlier orbiters suggest that generally the airframes were fully assembled (bar the vertical stabilizer) before tile application began and this forward fuselage has more tiles than the fuselage of 3K, which should have been further along in production and the work on which stopped almost four years later than on 4K.

One of the earliest photos of TVA-DZ (left) in the TMZ assembly workshop, early 1992. Image: Vladimir Yatsina/TASS TVA-DZ would have been tested at TsAGI in the late 80s and — if the above identitfication is correct — spent the rest of its life at the TMZ, where it was first photographed in 1992 by TASS’ Vladimir Yatsina. During a 1998 visit to the workshop, Vladimir Volokonskiy described the fuselage segments as “most likely […] parts of thermal and acoustic test [articles]” with “imitations of heat-shielding tiles”, which further supports the test article hypothesis. [11]

Press enter or click to view image in full size Press enter or click to view image in full size TVA-DZ alone (left) and in the company of other airframe segments (right) at the Tushino Mashine-building Plant. Images: buran.ru/htm/factory2.htm The above photos, usually dated 1998, show segments belonging to at least three orbiters scattered around the TMZ assembly shop, so there’s a good chance other airframe segments therein also belonged to the TVA-DZ orbiter. The forward fuselage was later photographed outside the assembly shop a couple of times in gradually deteriorating condition and is assumed to have been destroyed in the early 2000s.

Press enter or click to view image in full size Press enter or click to view image in full size Forward fuselage of a Buran orbiter outside the TMZ. Images: yaplakal.com, buran-energia.com.