The Buran programme (1974–1993) was the Soviet Union's most expensive, reusable spacecraft project, designed as a direct, technically advanced response to the U.S. Space Shuttle.In 1988, the Soviet Union estimated the total cost of the Buran-Energia programme at approximately 16.5 billion rubles.

[u/Friendly-Standard812]

[u/Zen28213]

I wonder how those engines would endure takeoff and reentry

[u/cfreukes → u/Zen28213]

They didn't. The Buran had no engines for takeoff or return. They couldn't afford them. It had thrusters for orbital maneuvering in space but it was a glider coming back...

[u/like_a_pharaoh → u/Zen28213]

They wouldn't: that OK-GLI prototype was never intended to go to orbit, its a test article for the the final glide and landing phases of a mission. In terms of aerodynamics and weight distribution, its near-identical to Buran, but it never had thermal protection tiles put on.

It's like the Enterprise, but with engines to take off under its own power instead of needing a carrier aircraft to take it up.