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duckdodgers4 t1_j4xjgb3 wrote

Reply to comment by dbx999 in Does anyone have information about Russian space SHUTTLES? just saw a post with a picture of it, didn’t know they existed! by freeastronaut2100

Actually the so called knockoff came straight from the original NASA files that were in the National Library. Since NASA is a public domain organisation, the files were not flagged as confidential. Russians were able to take copies of those files pretty easily. When NASA found out what was going on they made slight changes to the original files, e.g. the tiles that protect the vehicle during re-entry were left with with the early versions. You can find more about this on the internet but here's a link https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18686550

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MrZorg58 t1_j4yeq5a wrote

Not an exact copy, there were several versions of the shuttle design, before the final was settled on. Burt Rutan was consulting with NASA then, and told them, this thing is going to get people killed.

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