After the program was cancelled, OK-GLI was stored at Zhukovsky Air Base, near Moscow, and eventually bought by an Australian company, Buran Space Corporation. It was transported by ship to Sydney, Australia via Gothenburg, Sweden [3] — arriving on February 9, 2000 — and appeared as a static tourist attraction under a large temporary structure in Darling Harbour for a few years. [4] [5]
Visitors could walk around and inside the vehicle (a walkway was built along the cargo bay), and plans were in place for a tour of various cities in Australia and Asia. The owners, however, went into bankruptcy, and the vehicle was moved into the open air, where it suffered some deterioration and vandalism.
The OK-GLI test vehicle was then offered for sale, including by a radio auction on Los Angeles' News 980 KFWB-AM with a starting price of $6 million, [6] however it did not receive any genuine bids. [7] In September 2004 a German team of journalists found the OK-GLI test shuttle near Bahrain. [8] It was then bought by the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, to be transported to Germany in 2005. [9] Due to legal issues, it still remains (as of June 2006) in Bahrain. |