USSR Energia-Buran

On November 15, 1988, the Soviet space shuttle Buran was launched from the Baikonur Space Center for the first time, and entered a circular orbit 250 kilometers from the ground after 47 minutes. It orbited the earth twice, and after three hours of space flight, it returned safely at 9:25 as scheduled and landed accurately on a concrete runway 12 kilometers away from the launch point, completing the world's first unmanned test flight.

The Energia rocket was designed to carry the Buran space shuttle. This is why the Energia's load is located on the side of the rocket rather than on top. But Energia can also carry out heavy satellite launch missions. The first launch of Energia carried the "Polar" Steky-DM test spacecraft.