These pictures capture the eerie sight of two abandoned space shuttle explorers in an abandoned building in Kazakhstan.
Russian film director Alexander Kunas walked 24 miles through the desert to get to the abandoned space shuttles at Soviet Cosmodrome Baikonur.
He spent three nights sleeping inside the abandoned area where he photographed the deserted shuttles.
Abandoned โ Alexander found the two test shuttles inside an abandoned complex in Kazakhstan (Pictures: SWNS)
The shuttles were developed as part of the Buran Space Programme, which was shut down in 1993.
But they never actually went into space, and instead were the test shuttles used by the programme.
The actual shuttle, the Orbiter 1K1, was crushed and destroyed when a different hangar in the same complex collapsed in 2002 ๐๐พ๐๐ing eight workers.
Alexander, who started photography five years ago, said: โItโs fun to find some places where people canโt get in, it makes my photos unique.
Desert โ Alexander walked more than 24 miles across the desert to reach the shuttles
He added: โWe walked about over 24 miles through the desert with huge bags, until we got to the shuttles.
โWe were walking the whole night, because the area is still secured, and we didnโt want to be seen during the day on route.โ
Space programme โ the shuttles were test shuttles in the Buran programme
โWhen we came into the hangar, it was so dark, I couldnโt find the shuttles using my flashlight.
โI thought Iโd got the wrong building, but suddenly my spotlight caught the wing of Buran.
โMy first thought, when I glance on it was, โthatโs huge.’โ
Eerie โ the film director said it felt like they were โsleeping in a house with a ghostโ
Alexander has explored other space rocket facilities and warns how sleeping in such buildings can be difficult.
He said the three nights spent in the cosmodrome was an eerie experience.
โEvery night we couldnโt sleep as every sound of birds or wind woke me up,โ he said. โIt felt like sleeping in a house with a ghost, the ghost of USSR.โ