The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a unique cargo plane and is officially the largest in the world. It features a wingspan of 290 feet (the largest of any operational aircraft) and a body length of about 175 feet. When empty, the enormous aircraft weighs about 285 tonnes and has its maximum takeoff weight capped at 640 tonnes. At its debut in 1988, the Antonov An-225 Mriya was about 50 percent larger than any other airliner the public had ever seen.
The terrific aircraft, whose name Mriya translates to "dream" or "inspiration," was designed during the 1980s by the Antonov Design Bureau in Soviet Ukraine. The challenges the Soviet Union faced in that period with its Buran Space Shuttle Program inspired the development of the Antonov An-225 Mriya. In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union's rockets were too big. The Buran space shuttle orbiter and Energia super rocket could not be transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome via any existing means.
Soviet leaders were tasked with figuring out a means of moving the space hardware and even contemplated the combination of massive highways and a ramped-up railroad. But very quickly, it became apparent that air travel would be more efficient but therein lay a problem. Not one Soviet aircraft existed, behemoth enough to carry such an enormous weight. The Mi-26 helicopter, brand new at the time, came close with a capacity of 23 tonnes. But during a flight test, the simulated freight experienced disturbing pendulum swings after little turbulence.
The Soviet engineers in charge of the project initially considered using the AN-124 Ruslan to move the space hardware. Still, they quickly discovered that the hardware would disturb the plane's vertical stabilizer and the airflow around that area. The engineers devised that adding a seven-meter extension to the Ruslan's fuselage was indeed a solution– but an effective one.
The engineers began to think bigger and considered an even larger version of the An-124. That project birthed the An-225, capable of transporting about 200 tonnes of cargo. In 1985, Antonov Design Bureau was commissioned by the Soviet Ministry of Defense to begin work on the An-225. Anatoly Vovnyanko, the manager on the project, was instructed to ensure the plane's design was as similar as possible with the Ruslan.
Although adhering to that instruction was difficult, the team introduced radical features to the new model. The Ruslan's wing was remodeled to fit three engines instead of two. Also, three additional landing gear assemblies were added to the fuselage side, increasing the number from 10 to 14, and the fuselage got an extension of eight meters compared to the Ruslan. The last three rows of wheels became steerable so that the plane could turn on a runway. As the engineers worked on the aircraft, they imagined it would not only be helpful as a cargo plane but equally as a launchpad for future rockets.
On the 30th of November 1988, the aircraft dubbed "Mriya" rolled out of the Antonov assembly shop. And on the 21st of December 21, 1988, the aircraft was lifted by pilot Aleksandr Gualuenko on its maiden flight. The test pilot, Galuenenko, confirmed that the aircraft set multiple records even during its initial test flights. Six Ivchenko Progress D-18T turbofan engines power the Mriya aircraft. Each turbofan engine can pump out about 23 tonnes of thrust during takeoff.
Even though the aircraft succeeded in carrying the space shuttle, the Buran-Energia project became too expensive for the government and soon grind to a halt. The aircraft stayed in storage from 1994 to 2000.
At the beginning of the century, Mriya became a commercial carrier. In April 2020, the aircraft delivered about 90 tonnes of medical supplies to Warsaw, Poland. The American Journal of Transportation recognized the event as the most prominent air cargo transport in terms of volume. It has also been instrumental in delivering supplies worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic.
