Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Soviet Buran space shuttle program cost an estimated 16 to 20 billion rubles—equivalent to around $15 to $20 billion USD in today’s money.

Developed as a response to NASA’s Space Shuttle, the program included multiple full-scale test vehicles, the Buran orbiter, and the Energia heavy-lift rocket.

Although the Buran completed a single uncrewed orbital flight in 1988, the program was canceled in 1993 due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and budget constraints.

Much of the advanced tech, including automated flight systems, thermal protection tiles, and reusable launch vehicle designs, was abandoned or left to decay in hangars, some of which have since collapsed, destroying irreplaceable hardware.