These photos were made in 2012, when I visited Moscow and a town south of it as part of a tour around the Baltic Sea.
There are three places worth to mention. It was hard research work to localize all these places. To get there was quite easy.
1. Abandoned planes
2. Satellite dish/ Radio telescope
3. Mining cars south of Moscow
4. Russian Space Shuttel Buran
1. Abandoned airplanes
On the area of a former airport in the North-west of Moscow there are some old planes and helicopters from the Soviet era.
Around the airport there were many buildings and construction of a shopping centre. The runway was used by driving schools and bikers. If the plane and helicopter cemetery is still there or whether it’s been removed – I cannot tell especially because the look of the outskirts of Russia’s capital is changing fast.
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- Build complexes next to the former air field
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- Around the old airfield
2. Satellite dish/Radio telescope
On the internet I read the area around this radio telescope dish being in the North-east of Moscow would be abandoned. Some pictures let one think so as well. But in fact when I went there, my GPS was jammed and cars were going around. I heard and saw people doing construction works on the telescope. I had no other choice to retreat, because I didn’t want to get problems with Russian authority.
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- Jammed GPS
3. Mining cars south of Moscow
It was quite a long search for these cars. There are no really information about their exact position. So I had to search a huge area with the help of the satellite view of Google Maps. These cars are still working and mine out sand. The location is near Egorievsk, but there are no good roads. I was lucky being able to go there by bike.
Both of the mining cars were built in East Germany. The first was a bucket-wheel excavator (looks like a mosquito) TAKRAF ERs 710. It was built by VEB Schwermaschinen Lauchhammer (Heavy machines) in 1984.
The second one was partly built in East Germany by VEB Starkstrom-Anlagenbau Cottbus (heavy current/plant construction) Cottbus.
The people who work there partly live in the cars as well.
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- The bucket of car n° 2
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- Car n° 2
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- Mining car n°1 – TAKRAF ERs710
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- Vehicle to move the railway tracks
4. Russian Space Shuttle Buran
In Gorky Park next to Moskva in the heart of Moscow a test version of the Russian Space Shuttle is exhibited. Its official name is 0.15 OK-TVA. It was used for thermal, mechanical and acoustical tests.
Short Trips and Lost Places 