It was like a mausoleum for the space age. I sat there for two hours just looking at them. I tried to sleep but my body was full of adrenaline so finally around 10 AM, when the light got better, I started taking photos.

It was just a typical calm Sunday at Baikonur Cosmodrome and I spent all day climbing around, trying to get the best shots. The shuttles had clearly been rotting there for 25 years and they were covered in bird shit. There was a ladder beneath one of them and you could climb inside but there wasn't actually much to see. They’re basically destroyed. Also the hanger is wrecked because of the 10-year period where the Kazakhs were unclear about what was happening at Baikonur and stripped the place. Everything of value has disappeared and I think the hanger will probably collapse, just like the other one.