The coolest thing is how the first (and only) voyage, including the landing, was completely automated.
Its one thing to drop an unmanned capsule into the ocean, quite another to land it on a runway. Of course, drones do it all the time these days. But this was 27 years ago.
The technical and popular terms are at odds, and currently tend to
reflect whichever element the user wishes to stress:
UAV - Uninhabited Air Vehicle - no "man in the can"
UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - same
RPV - Remotely Piloted Vehicle - we still have pilots!
drone - military: target, towed or on auto-pilot
drone - media: mindless non-human automaton
From the description of Buran's flight, it sounds like a mostly
pre-programmed auto-pilot from de-orbit to landing. The technology is
impressive for the late 1980s, no matter what it is called.
Probably to a similar extent as airliners these days, though without the pilot actually sitting in it. They can take off and land themselves, though they still have a human sitting around (probably reading a paperback most of the time.)
Autolandings may or may not be common in airliners, but my understanding of drones is that "The pilots are flying the plane through the automation" is in strong effect.
They can (and often are), but some of the drones are capable of completely computer controlled take off and landing. I remember seeing somewhere that the human drone pilots caused more crashes when landing than the computer controlled ones.
Not the latest ones. The trend now is to give a drone a flight plan, not to fly it.
For instance, the X-47B is designed to perform such delicate maneuvers as taking off from and landing on aircraft carriers and performing in-flight refueling automatically.
Its one thing to drop an unmanned capsule into the ocean, quite another to land it on a runway. Of course, drones do it all the time these days. But this was 27 years ago.