The most expensive tires — Space Shuttle

Space! Despite the fact that the wheels of lunar rovers cannot be called tires by any stretch of the imagination, there is still equipment that has used tires in the classical sense to which we are accustomed.

The Space Shuttle is a reusable spacecraft that returned to Earth by means of a classic landing like an airplane. At the same time, the recorded stay in space was from 2 to 17 days. In total, over 30 years of operation, five shuttles made 135 flights into space. In 2011, the last shuttle flight was carried out as part of the "space transportation system" program.

Landing is a very complex process with several stages of speed reduction and alignment of the ship. The final stage takes place at an altitude of 500 meters and a speed of around 430 km/h: the alignment of the ship begins and the landing gear is released. Contact with the strip occurs at a speed of about 350 km/h, after which a 12-meter diameter brake parachute is released. After braking to a speed of 110 km/h, the parachute is dropped.

Of course, such loads require special tires. Multilayer and technically complex Michelin tires with a size of 44.5 x 16.0-R21 perfectly coped with the tasks. They cost accordingly expensive - about 500,000 rubles.