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BOR-4S
BOR-4S
	BOR-4S nº401 at MAKS Airshow in Zhukovskiy, 2005
General information
Type	Uncrewed 1:2 scale re-entry test vehicle
National origin	Soviet Union
Manufacturer	NPO Molniya
Number built	7
History
First flight	5 December 1980

The BOR-4 (БОР-4 Russian: Беспилотный Орбитальный Ракетоплан 4, Bespilotnyi Orbital'nyi Raketoplan 4, "Unpiloted Orbital Rocketplane 4") flight vehicle is a scaled (1:2) prototype of the Soviet Spiral VTHL (vertical takeoff, horizontal landing) spaceplane. An uncrewed, subscale spacecraft, its purpose was to test the heatshield tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon for the Buran space shuttle, then under development.^[1]

Several of them were built and flown between 1982 and 1984 from the Kapustin Yar launch site at speeds of up to Mach 25, using K65-RB5 variant of Kosmos-3M launch vehicle.^[2] After reentry, they were designed to parachute to an ocean splashdown for recovery by the Soviet Navy. The testing was nearly identical to that carried out by the US Air Force ASSET program in the 1960s, which tested the heatshield design for the X-20 Dyna-Soar. On 16 March 1983^[3]^: 207 a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft captured the first Western images of the craft as it was recovered by a Soviet ship near the Cocos Islands.^[4]

Flights

Seven BOR were built, and four confirmed flights took place between 1982 and 1984.^[5]^[6] All orbital flights were launched using Kosmos-3M rockets at the Kapustin Yar launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia^[7]

**BOR-4** test flights^[7]
Mission	Launch date (UTC)	Landing date (UTC)	Recovery site	Orbit	Duration (in orbit)	Outcome
Kosmos 1374	3 June 1982 21:36	3 June 1982 23:04	17°S 98°E / 17°S 98°E / -17; 98 Indian Ocean	158 x 204 km	1 hour, 28 minutes	Success^[3]
Kosmos 1445	15 March 1983 22:33	16 March 1983 00:25	Indian Ocean	158 x 208 km	1 hour, 52 minutes	Success
Kosmos 1517	27 December 1983 10:04	27 December 1983 11:46	Black Sea	212 x 217 km	1 hour, 42 minutes	Success
Kosmos 1614	19 December 1984 04:04	19 December 1984 05:26	Black Sea	174 x 223 km	1 hour, 22 minutes	Partial failure. Spacecraft lost at sea during recovery^[3]

Current locations

BOR-4S nº401 – Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia^[8]
BOR-4 – Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia^[8]

References

^ Grayzeck, Edwin.J. "NASA - National Space Science Data Center - Spacecraft - Details: Cosmos 1517". NSSDC Master Catalog. National Aeronautics & Space Administration. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
^ "K65-RB5". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Turnill, Reginald, ed. (August 1987). Jane's Spaceflight Directory. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0710608381.
^ Hodges, Jim (23 June 2011). "They're Trying to Make a Dream Come True". The Researcher News. NASA Langley Research Center. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022.
^ Petrovitch, Vassili. "BOR Characteristic". buran-energia.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
^ Bauduin, Pierre (3 March 2007). "Unmanned Orbital Rocket Planes type "BOR"". Weebau Spaceflight Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
^ ^a ^b Mark Wade. "BOR-4". www.astronautix.com. Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b "BOR: Où les voir ?" [BOR: Where to see them?]. kosmonavtika (in French). Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2016.