Soviet Designed Air Launched Space Shuttle Rocket from a dual Fuselage Antonov An-225

Before the Stratolaunch was ever conceived, the Tupolev Bureau proposed a fully reusable replacement for the Buran Space Shuttle The “OOS“ Which stood for Odnostupenchati Orbitalni Samolyot, (one-stage orbital plane) Like the Stratolaunch system The shuttle would ride under the  Aerospace Transport System (AKS) A Dual fuselage version of the Antonov An-225 with between 24 and 40 Jet Engines The OSS would have a weight of 675 tons and the AKS would have a weight of 1000 tons for a total of around 1600 tons. Primarary source False Steps: The Space Race as It Might Have Been By Paul Drye cloud image By Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, cloud image By Bharatahs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,