Ralph Mirebs, an urban explorer and photographer in Russia, has revealed extraordinary photos of Soviet space shuttle prototypes gathering dust in an abandoned hangar. The abandoned hangar is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is still in operation today (with the close of NASA’s shuttle program, Russian Soyuz shuttles are the only way for astronauts to reach the International Space Station). The Buran prototype shuttles found by Mirebs, however, are from an earlier era – they are the last remnants of a space program that began in 1974 and was finally shuttered in 1993. (Photo by Ralph Mirebs/Exclusivepix Media)

NASA space shuttle Atlantis is prepared on the Vehicle Assembly Building floor at the Kennedy Space Center May 18, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The space shuttle program ends with Atlantis mission STS-135 scheduled for early July. Space shuttle Atlantis will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly a system to investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing spacecraft and return a failed ammonia pump module. (Photo by Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images)

An undercover police officer, who had been marching with anti-police demonstrators, aims his gun at protesters after some in the crowd attacked him and his partner in Oakland, California December 10, 2014. Police said more than 100 demonstrators marched in Berkeley, California, which has a history of social activism. Under cloudy skies, turnout was smaller than earlier in the week, when demonstrators in the area threw rocks at police and shut down a major freeway. (Photo by Noah Berger/Reuters)

Supporters of the presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressive Congress hits with a motorbike another supporter during celebrations in Kano March 31, 2015. Nigeria's opposition APC declared an election victory on Tuesday for former military ruler Buhari and said Africa's most populous nation was witnessing history with its first democratic transfer of power. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

History enthusiasts of French association “Arquebusiers de l'Est”, dressed as soldiers of 3rd regiment of Zouave, attend an Armistice Day ceremony to commemorate the end of World War One at Epernay, eastern France, November 11, 2014. More than a hundred volunteers from France, Romania, England, Belgium, Russia and Italy took part in the parade. The year 2014 marks the centennial commemoration for the soldiers who fought in the First World War (WWI). (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Crews move a 39 foot long, 16 foot tall, 2400 lbs. replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex from behind the Museum Of Science And History in Jacksonville, Fla., to its new location in front of the entrance of the museum Wednesday morning, May 20, 2015, to kickoff the upcoming Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit. The exhibiti, which opens this week, includes animatronic dinosaurs as well as prehistoric fossils and runs through September 7. (Photo by Bob Self/The Florida Times-Union via AP Photo)

Inhabitants of the community of Coyolillo celebrate their Afro-descendant carnival in Veracruz, Mexico on February 25, 2020. This carnival has more than 100 years of history and is the heritage of the African workers who arrived in that area more than 300 years ago to work in the sugar cane fields. (Photo by Hector Adolfo Quintanar Perez/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)