A Soviet space rocket has been left to rot in an abandoned industrial graveyard
The rusting 2,650 tonne Energia M rocket was once envisioned as the USSR's answer to Nasa's space program
But the sad remains of what was once the future of the Russian space exploration was abandoned to the elements decades ago
Tucked deep into the Kazakh desert, in Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome launch facility, the rocket lies rotting and filthy
Several huge surrounding structures have been reduced to rubble, depicting the sorry state of the once-booming launch pad
In the '70s, the Soviets began to develop the rocket Energia in a bid to rival Nasa's Saturn V launch vehicle - which took America's Apollo missions to the moon
The rocket was designed to serve as a "heavy-lift expendable launch system" and booster for the never-used Soviet Buran space shuttle - the Soviet version of the iconic US shuttle