Soviet space shuttle. It had only one uncrewed orbital flight, on 15 November 1988, before being officially cancelled in 1993. The programme was authorized in 1976 to compete with NASA's shuttle. Buran was launched on an Energiya rocket and was limited to two orbits because of its small computer memory. Funding was then cut, and work on two additional shuttles was halted. In June 2001, Buran was prepared for relaunch. Russia planned to use the shuttle to transport space tourists.