In this book, the authors describe the long development of the Soviet space shuttle system, its infrastructure and what was planned to follow the first historic unmanned mission. This is the first comprehensive book on the Soviet Energiya/Buren project published in the West, making use of exclusive Russian source material obtained by the authors over the past decade. The text includes a review of the decisions to proceed with the US space shuttle in 1972 and the Soviet decision to construct Buran in 1976, a physical description of the Energiya system, and a comparison in tabular form of Buran with the American system. Readers will gain unique insight into the rise and fall of a project primarily designed to catch up with the United States in the Cold War in space.