MTKVA / MTKVP (variant 2)

Multiuse Transport Ship МТКВА/МТКВП

Mission Profile

The MTKVA/MTKVP Variant 2 was a Soviet spaceplane concept studied in the mid-1970s as a reusable orbital transport vehicle, one of several parallel design studies conducted before the Buran program was selected for full development. Sharing the same core dimensions as the Energia vehicle at 58.8 m height and 7.7 m diameter with a 2,400 tonne liftoff mass generating 34,840 kN of thrust, the design explored different orbiter configurations for crew and cargo transfer to space stations. The concept was ultimately superseded by the Buran orbiter design, contributing to Soviet aerospace engineers' understanding of reusable shuttle architectures during the critical pre-Buran design phase.