Do you remember Buran, the space shuttle the Russians built back in the ’80s that looked so much like ours? Ever wonder what happened to it after the collapse of the USSR? Well, I have, and today I finally satisfied my curiosity.

It seems there were actually several Burans built, only one of which ever flew in space (a single, unmanned mission conducted entirely by autopilot; the Soviet Union fell apart not long after, and the Buran program was mothballed). The vehicle that actually flew in space was destroyed in 2002 when the hanger that housed it collapsed from neglect. Another, a prototype that was used for various ground-based tests and never flew at all, is now an amusement ride in Gorky Park. Several others now live in Russian museums or are stored in hangers.

And then there is there is the Buran designated OK-GLI, which was used for atmospheric flight tests but never intended for space, much like our shuttle Enterprise. OK-GLI has had quite a life. Fitted out with turbojets so it could launch itself from an ordinary runway like an airplane, it performed in a number of airshows after the end of the Buran program before being purchased by an Australian consortium and displayed at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. From there, the ship found its way to Bahrain for several years. Now it’s in Germany, on its way to a new home in a German museum. The photo above, which I believe was taken on Tuesday, shows the OK-GLI on the river Rhine, with the famous landmark cathedral of Cologne in the background.

I find this picture awesome on several levels. First of all, I just love seeing incongruous things like spacecraft sitting on river barges. Also, I’ve always loved the lines of our space shuttle, and it still startles me how much the Russian version resembles ours (a little espionage, perhaps? Or is it a case of function leading inevitably to a particular form?). And finally, I can’t help but get a little excited when I recognize distant, familiar places in the news. I always want to nudge whoever is sitting next to me and say, “I’ve been there, by the way…”

(I’m amused to see that a section of the cathedral is still clad in shiny scaffolding, as it was when I was there five years ago; my friend Keith’s wife once told me she thinks there must be some unwritten law that all major European landmarks have to have scaffolding up one side…)

Oh, and as long as I’m talking about space stuff, did you hear about that crazy-awesome idea of mounting a moonbase on the back of a giant walking robot, so future astronauts could explore far beyond their landing site? It’s actually not as far-fetched as it sounds — scientists have got a working prototype already — and it could solve a number of problems, like how to lift a massive habitat module out of a landing craft and onto the lunar surface (answer: just have the habitat walk or roll off the lander, like the Mars rovers did).

Some comments I’ve read are comparing this idea to the Japanese Gundam robots that are so popular in anime films, but I was immediately reminded of something from a Star Wars novel I read years ago, a city that was constructed on the backs of 40 retired Imperial AT-ATs and which forever roamed the surface of an unbearably hot planet, trying to stay ahead of the full-on daylight of the planet’s intense sun.

Is it just me, or is it a little spooky how closely the world is beginning to mirror the science fiction we grew up with?