After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia had to lease the Kazakhstan-based Baikonur spaceport from Kazakhstan. So how did Musa obtain title to the Burya vehicle? This is where the story becomes slightly murky. Russian officials say they don't know where it is located. Unlike the Space Shuttle, the orbiter and rocket were not considered part of the same. They were an almost exact copy of the American Space Shuttle (or Columbia-class Shuttle) except for small differences, like using 4 liquid fuel boosters instead of two solid fuel boosters, and no engines on the main orbiter. The skull of Kenesary Kasymov may be in St. Buran or Buran-class Shuttles were spaceplanes designed made by the Soviet Union. He emphasized his determination, saying, 'It is not water that flows in our veins, but blood, and it has the scent of wormwood.' Wormwood is a common plant in Kazakhstan and a key ingredient of absinthe. He said he would definitely not allow the shuttle to be returned to Russia for nothing, emphasizing the value of Burya as a bargaining chip by noting that it is the most valuable Russian artifact in Kazakhstan. In an interview published Friday in a Russian language newspaper in Kazakhstan, Musa escalated his rhetoric. Now, Musa wants the skull back, and he is willing to trade Burya for it. A rival ultimately beheaded Kenesary Kasymov in 1847 and sent his head to Russia. He has emerged as a hero in modern-day Kazakhstan for leading a 10-year struggle opposing the Russian Empire's attempts to colonize the region during the 1840s.

In September, reports emerged that he would only return Burya to Russia in exchange for the skull of the last Kazakh Khan, a man named Kenesary Kasymov. Musa, however, does not simply want to give the vehicle back to Russia. After the orbiter was vandalized by graffiti artists this spring, Russian officials, including head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, became increasingly concerned about Burya's future. Further Reading Breaking into the Buran graveyard: Aging Soviet vehicles still impressīurya is located in a separate facility at the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Buran shuttle escape system